I would die for you
by TheLoner7
Summary: When Gwaine finds himself having to chose between saving Arthur and Merlin or the love of his life, he will follow his heart. Later on, he tells Leon he loves him, making things awkward and difficult. Leon has to make a plan to rescue the king while trying not to fall in love with Gwaine. Bad summary, but please read!
1. In my mind

**A/N **Hello beautiful people from the internet! So, first story with this account, yay! Before you start with this fic, I´d like you to please read the following as I want to clear up some things:

-This is a Gwaion fic (Gwaine and Leon), I know it´s not very common because a lot of people don´t ship it, but when they appeared together in season 3, my heart melted and I knew I had to ship it

-This fic takes place around season 4, when Arthur is king.

-Merthur is canon. At the beginning, it wasn´t going to be like this, but I changed my mind for multiple reasons.

-This fic is not going to be very long, maybe 7 or 8 chapters

-I WILL try to upload quickly, I promise.

-English is not my first language. You may find some mistakes and please know that my English is not perfect.

Thank you for paying attention to that, happy reading and please tell me what you think about it!

TheLoner7

Words without A/N: 1354

**I would die for you**

**1\. In my mind**

_''__He flooded my thoughts everyday and I didn´t know how to swim. But that was okay'' Anonymous._

King Arthur, his servant and four of his most loyal knights were heading to the frontiers of Camelot due to a very secret mission. Arthur and Merlin were the only ones who knew where they were going and wanted to keep it secret for a while because of all the rumors about a spy in Camelot. The king had said that this was a very serious and dangerous mission, that if they accepted to go, they had to blindly trust him for a while. The knights had accepted and everything was as normal as usual: Elyan and Percival were having a private conversation, Gwaine couldn´t keep his mouth shut and Leon was just riding his horse with a serious expression on his face.

''I wonder what´s going on with Sir Leon.'' Merlin whispered to Arthur.

''He´s alright, I think.'' The king said.

''He is concerned about something and far more serious than usual.''

''Then why don´t you ask him, Merlin?''

''Do you think he's worried about the mission, I mean, we´re the only ones who know about it.''

''Merlin, I told you I wanted to talk to everyone about the mission at night. I want to be as far as away as I can from Camelot before thinking about the mission.''

''Are you paranoid about the spy?''

''Shut up, Merlin!'' Arthur snapped. Merlin giggled and the other man couldn´t hide his smile, it had been such a stupid comment.

''Why so worried, Leon?'' Gwaine asked, as if he had been concerned about the knight too.

''Is everything alright back there?'' Arthur asked as everyone turned their eyes to Leon.

''I was a little worried about something.'' Leon said. ''Sire, I was thinking that we should know about the mission. To be honest, we have never questioned your decisions and we would gladly give our lives for you. You said it was dangerous and I think we should be prepared.''

''You´re right.'' Arthur said. ''I´m sorry, I will tell you tonight when we find a good place to rest.

After a couple of hours, they finally found a place that looked safe and they set the camp as Merlin started cooking. The knights tried to look calm, as they wanted the king to trust them. They sat down in a circle and waited till their leader decided to speak.

''Listen here, I´m sorry for worrying you,'' Arthur started. ''we all know the rumors about the spy in Camelot and I have to admit that I was concerned about it. There is a slave trader near the frontiers of Camelot, who may be working for Morgana, our mission is to find him and everyone who works for him so we can stop them.''

''Well, the mission itself is not that dangerous, but the places are. And there is always the risk to encounter Morgana.'' Sir Percival said.

''Right, I hope you can understand and I am grateful for your support.''

''We understand completely, sire.'' Leon said. ''Of course, the safety of Camelot is your priority and we are the ones who should think about your comfort. About the spy, I had my worries too and asked the best knights who stayed to look for him or her and talk to anyone who seems suspicious.''

''Good job and thank you, Leon.'' Arthur said. Everyone remained silent after Leon´s comment, no one could think of something better to say. The knight had always been like that, a leader: he always knew how to act and guide people with trust. Nobody wanted to admit it, but every knight of Camelot admired him, especially one that was right there, sitting next to him.

They ate, talked for a bit and then went to sleep; Merlin was going to take first watch. As always, the first hour was calm and boring. Merlin saw that the knights were peacefully resting and that there was no danger around. He sat down near Arthur and considered sleeping due to the lack of danger, but then he realized that something was wrong: Gwaine wasn´t snoring. Gwaine really knew how to snore and it made Merlin wonder about whether or not the knight was asleep. He stared at him for a minute or two.

''Do you always stare at sleeping people in your free time?'' Gwaine asked, surprising Merlin.

''I… I´m sorry, Gwaine... I wasn´t sure…''

''Hey, it´s okay, I was just thinking.''

''Are you worried about the mission?'' Merlin asked as Gwaine sat down next to him.

''Not at all.'' He answered with a little smile.

''And what were you thinking about?'' Merlin said. Gwaine didn´t answer, he just hid his face shyly, unlike him. ''Gwaine?''

''Okay, Merlin, I´ll tell you… I was thinking about someone.''

''Oh, someone… who is it?''

''I´m sorry, Merlin, I can´t tell you now, not until I´m sure about the whole thing.''

''So, you´re not together?''

''Not really. I´m not as lucky as you and Arthur.''

''How did you…?'' Merlin asked, impressed. ''Is it really that obvious?''

''Just a little.'' Gwaine laughed. ''You just have to see the way you look at each other, not a mystery at all.''

''Will you please…?''

''Of course, Merlin, I won´t tell anyone.''

''Thank you.'' The servant answered with relief. ''It´s just that it´s hard: king and servant, man and man.''

''I understand, well, at least the man and man part.''

''Oh, okay.'' Merlin said, glad that Arthur and him were not the only ones with that kind of orientation. ''And for how long have you been in love with this man you don´t want to tell me about?''

''For a little while now,'' Gwaine said. ''I´m not sure, feeling like this is very, very confusing. But I´d do anything for him, of that I´m sure.''

''Why don´t you tell him? You´re Sir Gwaine, after all, the most desirable knight of Camelot.''

''He doesn´t think like that.'' Gwaine said with a sad smile. ''I don´t know, Merlin, maybe it´s just not meant to happen.''

''But you love him.''

''I´m almost sure I do, but the thought of being loved back seems almost impossible.''

''Why?'' Merlin asked to cheer up his friend. ''I thought the same, but, in the end, everything went well.''

''Because you´re Arthur and Merlin, and I´m just Gwaine: an idiot who can´t do things well.''

''Are you joking? You saved our lives without even knowing us, you aided me to help Arthur with his mission, you are a very important knight and you have saved our lives on countless occasions. Right, just another idiot.'' Merlin said, but Gwaine didn´t reply. ''You really think that about yourself? Does he make you feel that?''

''Not at all.'' Gwaine said, finally. ''It´s myself. It´s just that, for the first time in my life, I don´t feel good enough.''

''Look, I know what it is like to feel worthless, but Arthur mends that and that´s just what you need: someone who can fix you.''

''He fixes me, believe me, he does… but, sometimes, people are so warm-hearted that that they don´t take responsibility of other people´s happiness.''

''Then, fix him as well. Make him happy, it will bring you peace and he might end up falling for you.''

Gwaine remained silent for a little while. Merlin was getting nervous because probably he had said something inappropriate. The knight spoke: ''Arthur is right: you are so wise sometimes, Merlin. Thank you, I´ll think about that… now, get some sleep, you look tired and I can´t sleep anyways.''

''Are you sure?'' Merlin asked and Gwaine nodded. ''Thank you and good luck.''

Merlin laid down near Arthur and closed his eyes; he was asleep in a couple of minutes. Gwaine just stayed there, thinking about the man who had stolen his heart without knowing. He was awake for hours, with the man who had changed his life flooding his mind. ''Stupid, why did you have to fall?'' Gwaine complained. After a few minutes, he whispered the man´s name and remained quiet for the rest of the night.

**Review?**


	2. I'd rather save you

**A/N: **Hello beautiful people from the internet! Sorry I took so long to post this chapter. I really wanted opinions on the first chapter but I got 0 reviews (hint hint!). There is more action in this chapter so I really hope you like it and please tell me what you think, I would appreciate it a lot! Happy reading!

Words without A/N: 1602

**2\. I´d rather save you**

_''__That one last shot´s a permanent vacation and how can you fly with broken wings'' Aerosmith_

''Wake up, lazy people!'' That was the first thing everyone heard in the morning. When they opened their eyes, they say Gwaine remaking the fire so they could have some breakfast.

''Did you stay up all night?'' Merlin asked Gwaine quietly while making some food.

''It´s alright, I told you, and I couldn´t sleep anyways.'' Gwaine answered and Merlin nodded.

''If I´m not wrong, we will…'' Arthur said, interrupting himself with a yawn. ''We will reach our destiny a couple of hours before sunset, we´ll have time to stop the slave trader.''

After having a quick breakfast, Arthur, Merlin and the knights prepared the horses and continued with their journey. As the day before, everyone acted as they usually did, but the path seemed darker. They were heading to dangerous lands where dark magic, bandits, enemies and even Morgana could be. Arthur promised that he would do anything to have all of them return safely to Camelot, but that didn´t make the place less dangerous.

Everyone left out a sigh of relief when they reached a quiet and peaceful place, it was surrounded by trees and there was a little river near. Percival asked if they could stay there for a while to get some water and the rest agreed. Leon was feeling calmer than the day before, but still alert. He started walking towards the river when he heard something strange, as if someone had moved behind the trees.

''Did you hear that?'' The knight asked.

''What?'' Arthur said.

''I heard that too.'' Gwaine said.

''What are you talking ab…?'' Arthur started but Leon silenced him with his hand. They stood still for some seconds, and then the noise was heard again. As everyone drew their swords, a dozen of bandits started running towards them, revealing that they had been hiding behind the trees.

At first, it looked as if the fight was going to be won by the kings and his knights: Arthur had already finished with a bandit with great agility, Leon was coping well with two enemies, Percival didn´t even have to use his sword to defeat some of them and one of the bandits had mysteriously fallen into the river. But another dozen of them came out of the trees.

A bandit screamed with pain as Gwaine slit his sword across his back. The knight was fighting with great skill and was confident about winning the encounter. In the corner of his eye, he saw that one of the bandits had grabbed Merlin and he was going to help him, but he saw Arthur running towards them. He kept fighting, sure about the kings rescuing his servant, but he heard the sound of a sword falling. He turned and saw that two bandits had grabbed Arthur too.

''Take these two! They are from Camelot, the boss will give us a nice amount of gold for them!'' The one who seemed the leader said. Gwaine was about to run to his king when he heard a scream that gave him goosebumps. He turned again and saw that one of the bandits had stabbed Leon. The man was about to stab him again, but the knight was quicker and made him fall next to him. Gwaine was almost certain that Leon would be able to beat the bandit, but two more were walking towards them.

Gwaine had two options: Merlin and Arthur or Leon.

''Gwaine, you idiot.'' He whispered to himself before running to kill the man who was fighting with Leon. As he stabbed him, he noticed the wound in Leon´s body, deep and nasty. The sight of it filled him with rage.

''What are you doing?'' Leon asked, knowing that the bandits were taking Arthur and Merlin away. Gwaine didn´t answer, he killed the two men who wanted to harm Leon in a violent and almost cruel way. He lost himself for a minute or two; the only thing in his mind was protecting Leon, which made him kill everyone who got too close. When he finished, he was shaking and his mind was racing, he saw Percival and Elyan looking at him scared and worried. Then, he kneeled to hold Leon, who had blacked out due to his wound.

''What do we do now?'' Elyan asked. ''You killed most of the bandits, but some just left with Merlin and Arthur. Even if we followed them with the horses now, we would never get close to them and I'm sure they have reinforcements. Besides, there are just four of us and…''

''Three.'' Gwaine corrected, feeling tears rolling down his cheeks. ''Leon is not dead, but he can't fight. We need to take him to Camelot as soon…''

''But, the king?'' Percival asked. Gwaine didn't know what to say, why were Percival and Elyan asking him? Maybe because it had been his choice to save Leon instead of Arthur and Merlin, it had been _his fault._

''You said we're too far away and too weak to follow them.'' Gwaine said faintly. ''If we return to Camelot quickly and tell Agravaine about it, he could send…''

''That's a good idea.'' Elyan said, kneeling next to Gwaine and, now, understanding completely the reasons behind his friend's actions. ''But we have to go now.''

He helped Gwaine to his feet and up his horse while Percival tried to cover Leon´s wound and carry his body. The knight, also understanding Gwaine, put the body in front of Gwaine so he wouldn't fall down. Elyan and Percival moved around, preparing the horses and God knows what else, Gwaine wasn´t paying attention and he didn´t care. He was a bit calmer now, but tears kept rolling down his cheeks as he held Leon's hand.

After what seemed years, they parted to Camelot. Gwaine's eyes were on the path but he couldn´t focus, he was just following Percival and Elyan. Leon was cold, very cold, so Gwaine put his arms around him hoping to warm him up. His mind was blank. Of course, there was some guilt, but he was focused on Leon and that they needed to reach Camelot quickly.

''Gwaine, we have to rest.'' Elyan whispered, bringing the knight back to reality. Percival put Leon carefully on the floor, taking a lot at his wound.

''We have to get back to Camelot.'' Gwaine said, dull.

''We ride at dawn.'' Elyan answered. ''You and Leon need to rest.'' Gwaine nodded and agreed to rest when their friends promised to take turns to look after Leon.

Gwaine didn't know exactly when he fell asleep, he just did. However, it was not a peaceful night. He dreamt of Leon, which should have made him happy and calmed him down, but it wasn´t like that. At first, he dreamt of some of their best moments, making him feel nostalgic. Then, without a warning, he saw Leon´s wounded body and heard his cry of pain over and over again. It was a prison he couldn't escape and a nightmare that wouldn't let him wake up. He felt afraid, stupid, guilty, worthless…

''Gwaine, wake up!'' Elyan said in the morning, waking up the knight.

''Leon… is he…?'' Gwaine started asking, worried and trying to catch his breath.

''He's alright. He woke up for some minutes when Percival was awake, he asked for some water and he feels the wound, which it´s good, according to Gaius.'' Elyan answered and Gwaine nodded. ''We´re just a couple of hours away from Camelot, come, we have to go.''

As the day before, Percival and Elyan made Leon ride with Gwaine and guided them. As soon as they parted, Gwaine's mind drifted away and he thought about what would have happened if he had acted differently. What if he had chosen Arthur and Merlin instead of Leon? It wouldn't have been his fault and the mission would probably be complete. But, what about Leon? Without a doubt, he would have died. _Selfish idiot_, thought Gwaine. But then, he realized that maybe it wasn´t completely selfish, Leon would have died if it hadn´t been for him. _You should have acted quicker, idiot, _he thought again, _idiot, idiot._

Gwaine would have never noticed that they had reached the castle if his horse hadn´t stopped. Percival and Elyan helped him and Leon inside the castle. As soon as he entered, Gwaine started shaking. ''We need Gaius.'' He said and, if those words were a magical spell, the old physician appeared.

''Dear lord!'' He gasped when he saw Leon. ''Percival, take him to his chambers and, Merlin, bring me…''

''He´s not here, Gaius.'' Percival said. ''Elyan will bring everything you need and I'll explain what happened.''

The physician nodded, of course, he was worried about Merlin, but he had to heal Leon. He gave some instructions to Elyan and headed to Leon´s rooms, followed by Percival with the knight in his arms. Gwaine was going to follow them when someone stopped him:

''Sir Gwaine!'' Agravaine, Arthur's uncle, called. He was walking towards him with a fake worried expression. ''Sir Gwaine, what happened? Where is Arthur?''

''We… we were on the mission and…'' Gwaine started, but he couldn´t speak correctly and wanted to follow Leon. ''And some bandits attacked us…''

''Oh, God, is he dead?''

''No… well, I'm almost certain he's not, but…''

''Where is he?''

''I don't know, but…'

''Where is the king?''

''My lord, Agravaine.'' Said Gwaine, now in control of his words. ''The king and his servant have been captured by a slave trader.''

**A/N: **Sooo we just reached a deep part, there will be more of Gwaine and Leon and, as I promised a friend, some 'deep Merthur shit'. Please, tell me what you think.

TheLoner7


	3. For the love of Camelot?

**A/N: Hello beautiful people from the internet! Sorry for taking so long, I was on a trip and seriously busy. Thank you, by the way, for the favourites and follows! But I still don't know what you think about it, mind reviewing please?**

**Enjoy!**

**Number of words without A/N: 1475**

**3\. For the love of Camelot?**

_''__If you don't love me, lie to me, 'cause you're the one thing I believe.'' Bon Jovi._

''Can you stop doing that, please?'' Percival asked Gwaine for the third time. The knight had been moving his legs nervously.

''I'm sorry.'' Gwaine answered shortly. His eyes were red and puffy, and he had been sitting outside Leon's room for an hour with his friends.

''So… Leon.'' Elyan said after a minute, attempting to break the uncomfortable silence. ''Do you…?''

''Yes.'' Gwaine said without letting his friend continue. He didn't want to speak at all.

''He will be fine, you know?'' Percival said. ''It wasn't that bad and Gaius will…''

Leon's room door opened, interrupting the knight. Gaius appeared and looked at them calmly.

''Sir Leon is better, now. Of course, he is in pain, but that is good because it means he hasn´t lost too much blood. He will be fully recovered in six days. Don't worry, he will be fine… if you excuse me, I'd like to talk to Agravaine about a solution with what happened. Elyan and Percival, will you come?''

''What about…?'' Gwaine started.

''Oh, of course. I forgot to mention it, sorry, Gwaine, Leon wants to see you.''

''Me?''

''Yes, just you.'' Gaius said quickly and went off to see Agravaine, followed by Elyan and Percival. Gwaine felt confused for some seconds, why would Leon want to see him? The possibilities were infinite: maybe he was thankful for being saved; maybe he was angry because the king hadn't been Gwaine's priority. There was also a very crazy option: what if Leon felt the same way towards Gwaine?

The knight stood there thinking about everything that could happen and the 'what if's started appearing. Gwaine didn´t wait any longer and opened the door, shyly but excited. He felt a terrible pain when he saw Leon lying uncomfortably on his bed covered in bandages. There was some blood on the floor, it was surely going to dry and stay as a painful memory forever.

''Leon?'' Gwaine asked calmly, heading to the chair next to the bed.

''Gwaine?'' Leon answered, looking at the knight and trying to sit, which made him groan.

''Don't sit, it's okay.'' Gwaine said, hurrying next to the blonde and holding him in place so he wouldn't feel any pain. Grabbing Leon had probably been a mistake because Gwaine remembered all they had gone through, making him want to hold and protect Leon. Then, he sat and looked into the knight's eyes, they were so beautiful, but he couldn't understand what they were expressing. He fought the urge to kiss him with a question asked in a shaky voice: ''Did you want to see me?''

''I did.'' Leon said, clearly uncomfortable with what had happened. He cleared his throat before speaking. ''Gwaine, look, I wanted to thank you for saving my life, I really don't know…''

''There's no need.'' Gwaine interrupted. ''I just…''

''Wait, I'm not finished yet. I really appreciate the fact that you risked your life for me. I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you but…'' He breathed heavily; Gwaine could see he was somehow angry. ''For the love of Camelot.''

''What?'' The other asked, not understanding why Leon had finished his statement like that.

''For the love of Camelot, Gwaine.'' He repeated. It looked as though the only reason he hadn't hit Gwaine was because of his wound.

''Leon, I don't unders…''

''For the love of Camelot, you idiot! What on earth were you thinking?'' Leon exploded, making his wound ache. Gwaine didn't answer and Leon closed his eyes before continuing, calmer this time. ''Gwaine, I know your intentions were noble, but you chose a bloody knight instead of the king. Why?''

''I… I just… I followed my heart.''

''You what?'' Leon asked as if Gwaine was an idiot. ''When one swears loyalty to Camelot, one swears loyalty to the king as well. Arthur could be dead and you followed your heart?''

''You would have died if…''

''I know, Gwaine, that's why I thanked you, but we don't know what happened to Arthur. You saw that he was being taken away, he's the bloody king for God's sake!''

Gwaine had to clear his throat before speaking because the urge to cry was strong. ''Leon, I'm so sorry, I know it was my fault, but…''

''I don't want you to say it as it was your fault.'' Leon said, calmer and trying to keep a normal tone. ''I know we can't change what has been done. I'm sorry, Gwaine, for overreacting and screaming. I just want to know your reasons.''

''Leon, I…'' Gwaine started, he was about to tell Leon the truth. He wanted to tell him how much he needed him and that losing him would mean dying. Leon's eyes were calm and understanding, it would be alright. Gwaine wanted to tell him and he was about to. But his biggest enemy, doubt, made him change his mind. ''Leon, you´re right and there is no need to apologise. It was my fault and I need to fix everything, I will talk with Agravaine about going to rescue Arthur.''

''I was going to do that myself.'' Leon said. ''But that's not what I asked you, Gwaine.''

''Oh, you're telling Agravaine?'' Gwaine asked, trying to avoid the question. ''Do you want me to tell that to Percival and Elyan?''

''No, I want you to tell me why you did it.'' Leon said firmly. Gwaine started feeling nervous, that wasn't him at all. What was he supposed to do? Now, telling the other man the truth didn't sound like a good idea. Leon insisted. ''Gwaine?''

''I can't.'' Answered Gwaine after some moments.

''You can't?''

''It's difficult to explain.''

''You can trust me.''

''I know... but...''

''But?''

Gwaine sighed. ''Are you sure you don't want me to..?''

''Gwaine!''

''I did it for you and because of you, okay?!'' Gwaine exploded. ''I did it because I'm stupid and selfish. I know Arthur is more important, but I was only thinking about my happiness: your existence. Leon, I just can't live without you. I know you don't feel the same, but I need you and losing you would mean death.'' He regretted saying all of that as soon as he was finished.

''Gwaine... so you...?'' Leon began asking, surprised as never before. ''Gwaine, I... I understand now... I'm sorry I pressured you, I... I had no idea.''

Gwaine didn't reply, he lowered his head and fought the urge to cry. He had always known that Leon wasn't interested in him. Still, there had also existed a little hope... a hope now dead.

''Oh my... Gwaine, I'm terribly sorry.'' Leon said. ''Forget about this, okay? Forget about the whole thing. I... I'm not angry. I should learn to shut up when... Listen, Gwaine, I will ask Agravaine about rescuing Merlin and Arthur.'' Leon said while covering his face with his hands. Apparently, Gwaine's confession had been a much more unexpected hit than the one that had wounded him. ''If it's okay with you, I don't want this to change anything between us. Gwaine, it's hard for me too, but we need to focus on the king now. If you want, we can talk about this when...''

''It's okay.'' Gwaine said. ''I understand... Percival and Elyan were worried too, do you want them to enter?''

''Alright, thank you, Gwaine.'' Leon sighed, embarrassed. Gwaine stood up and started walking toward the door, but stopped when Leon called him. ''Gwaine... I need to tell you something else. If Agravaine asks what happened with details, don't mention seeing how Arthur was captured. We don't know how he will react, but I'm sure he won't be nice.''

Gwaine nodded and walked away. When he was out of the room, Percival and Elyan asked him about Leon. ''He wants to see you as well.'' That was his answer, said with a tiny and sad voice. After that, he half-ran to his room, he preferred to avoid questions or strange looks. When he got there, he closed the door quickly, sat down on the floor and began to cry. The tears kept coming and coming, Gwaine was a mess.

''Idiot, you're an idiot, you're a stupid idiot, this is all your fault.'' Gwaine kept repeating. He didn't know which was worse: the guilt or the rejection. Yes, of course the capture had been his fault; the possibility of Camelot ending up with no king was his fault. And there was Leon, he had acted as nicely as possible, so understanding; but a voice in his mind kept repeating: _he's disgusted and he hates you, you just ruined your whole friendship, he will never love you._

The brave and noble Sir Gwaine cried all night, guilt and sadness flooding his mind. Everything, everything, was pain.

**Review?**


	4. Making a plan

**A/N: **Hello beautiful people from the internet! I'm here with the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it!Thank you for the follows and the favourites, plase review? By the way, this fic is gonna be longer than expected, probably ten chapters yay! Sorry if you think I take too long to post my chapters, I've had a terrible writer's block and I'm working on other writing project.

Enjoy and review please!

Words without A/N: 1866

**4\. Making a Plan**

_''__Have you ever needed someone so bad? Have you ever wanted someone you just couldn't have? Did you ever try so hard that your world just fell apart? Have you ever needed someone so bad?'' Def Leppard._

Gwaine must have been extremely tired to fall asleep as he did, he could barely remember crawling into bed. He stood up and took a look at himself, _I´m a mess_, he thought. He was just wearing one of his boots, his shirt was nowhere to be found and he must have fallen asleep while taking his pants off because they were just covering his knees. It was still early so he asked a servant to bring him some hot water for a bath.

After he was clean and dressed with fresh clothes, he sat on the bed and began to think, he wasn't sure about his feelings anymore. There was some relief because he was sure they would get permission to go and rescue Arthur and Merlin; however, the guilt was still there. And there was also the deal with Leon, he had told Gwaine he would forget about the whole thing, but can you forget about something like that? _Great_, he thought, _just great_. When Gwaine walked out of his room, he encountered Percival and Elyan.

''You're late.'' Percival said.

''Late for what?'' Gwaine asked.

''I thought you were going to tell him.'' Percival said to Elyan.

''No, that was you.'' Elyan complained.

''Tell me what?'' Gwaine asked.

''Leon asked us to go to his room; Agravaine and Gauis are going to be there as well.''

''And none of you told me?''

''Pers was supposed to tell you!''

''It was Elyan!'' Percival said.

''Alright, it doesn't matter, let's go.'' Gwaine said, heading to Leon's room.

''So... how are you?'' Elyan asked, following the knight.

''Fine... I guess.'' Gwaine answered, felling weird, they never used to ask that.

''Okay, good, I just...''

''What?''

''Nothing.''

''What?''

''He wants to know what happened with Leon yesterday.'' Percival said.

''You wanted to know too!'' Elyan said angrily.

''Why didn't you ask Leon?'' Gwaine asked, somehow annoyed.

''Because we talked about other things and he's... well... intimidating.''

''Intimidating? I am far more intimidating.'' Gwaine said, offended. ''He's just taller than me!''

''Everyone's taller than you, Gwaine.'' Percival said.

Gwaine sighed. ''Nothing happened, okay?''

''What do you mean?''

''That nothing happened.''

''But, there must have ha...''

''Let me put it in a different way... nothing changed.''

''So you did tell him.'' Elyan said.

''Yes, but he wants to forget about it. And it's the best thing to do now. Forget about the whole thing, okay?'' Gwaine said, feeling angry and annoyed. He didn't want to forget, but he needed his friends to shut up.

They walked quietly to Leon's room; Agravaine and Gaius were already there. Gwaine could feel how his heart jumped when he saw Leon, he was sitting on his bed and he seemed better. He smiled at them but, his eyes showed empty feelings.

''Oh, I'm glad he's here.'' Agravaine laughed. ''I was starting to wonder where our little Sir Gwaine was.''

''My lord.'' Gwaine said dryly, he had never liked Agravaine.

''Now that all of us are here... well, I think you have some explanation to do.'' He said looking at the knights.

''Sire, let me tell you what happened.'' Leon answered. ''We were on a mission with...''

''What mission?''

''It was a very secret mission, sire, the king didn't tell us about it until our first night away, and you know about the spy of...''

''But I can't see the spy here, Sir Leon, can you?'' Agravaine asked with his typical sarcastic tone. ''Tell me about it.''

Leon hesitated and sighed before continuing. ''The mission was about finding a slave trader outside Camelot, but we didn't know much about him.''

''Gradel...'' Agravaine muttered.

''Sorry?''

''A slave trader I met long ago: Gradel.''

''Do you think we are talking about the same man?'' Leon asked, wondering how and why Agravaine knew a criminal.

''I could be.''

''Anyways,'' Leon continued, after looking into the other man's eyes for reasons. ''Probably halfway through the journey, we had the bad luck of encountering some bandits, more than twenty. All of us had to fight and we were focussed on that.''

''So you didn't care about your king.''

''My lord, it was a though battle, we could hardly pay attention to someone else. We did care about Arthur, I saw him seconds before he was captured, I tried to get to him, but got wounded, as you can see, and I had a blackout before I could warn the others.''

''And which one of you was the one who decided to save Sir Leon, no offence, instead of the king?'' Agravaine asked to the other knights.

''The three of us made choice, sire.'' Percival said quickly.

''Can I know the reasons?''

''Of course, Agravaine.'' Gwaine said, angry and making emphasis while saying the name, he didn't mind being disrespectful because Agravaine was being and idiot, talking as if Leon's life was worthless. ''I really want you to know that the conflict didn't end when Arthur and Merlin were taken away. We were fighting with at least three bandits each when we noticed that they were already far away. We needed to finish with them before doing something else. The men who had the king had ran away quickly and we couldn't have reached them even with the horses. I'm sure we were all closer to their territory than to Camelot. We were three exhausted knights and a mortally wounded one, we had no choice.''

''But...''

''My lord,'' Leon interrupted and gave Gwaine a 'be careful' look. ''I think it doesn't matter too much now what happened there, the point is that Arthur is now a prisoner of this slaver trader. Sire, we would like to ask for permission to find Arthur.''

''A mission to rescue Arthur, huh?'' Agravaine said in a stupid tone. ''I am not sure if that is possible.''

''But, sire...''

''I need to think about it, Sir Leon.''

''Think about it? He is the king and your...''

''No discussions here, I need to think about it because what you have done proves me that the knights of Camelot don't receive the training they...''

''Then choose others! We will tell them where to go and what to do... but we can't let Arthur there.''

''We don't even know if he's alive!''

''Sire, if you could let me speak,'' Gaius said, interrupting the fight. ''I don't think Arthur is dead. A king's death is tremendous and rumours spread quickly. Also, when someone dies, the first people to know are not always the friends but the enemies. If the king was dead, we would already know. Morgana would certainly know and she could have started an attack. Camelot can't stand alone without its king for too long.''

''Gaius, even if your statement makes sense, I just believe that you want the knights to go on this dangerous and suicidal mission to get your assistant instead of the king.''

''My lord, I love Arthur as much as I love Merlin, they are both really important for me. And it's not about what I want, but about what Camelot needs.''

''Well, Gaius, as I said, I need to think about it.'' Agravaine said, heading to the door. ''Knights, I will inform you about my decision.''

''He's an idiot.'' Leon said after Agravaine left the room.

''Be careful with that.'' Elyan said.

''He is one... and I don't trust him.''

''How come?''

''I mentioned the slave trader and he remembered one, why would he know him? And see how much he tries to believe that Arthur is dead? I bet he doesn't want us to rescue him. Something is telling me he is not completely loyal to Camelot.''

''That is a big accusation, Sir Leon.'' Gaius said.

''But you saw it, Gaius, you said something very clever and he had to start talking about Merlin to avoid your point.''

''What I'm trying to say is that we should be careful talking about it, we will discuss it more carefully later... Gwaine, Elyan and Percival, do you mind bringing some breakfast for all of us while I change Leon's bandages? We have to talk about this.''

''Leon's right, he's an idiot.'' Gwaine said as he and his two friends walked to the kitchen.

Percival laughed. ''God, Gwaine, you have been so reckless these past few days.''

''What do you mean?''

''You want to assume all responsibility, you talk almost screaming to Agravaine and treat him as if he didn't understand a thing, and now you say this at the top of your lungs in the middle of the castle.''

''Well, Agravaine can come and kiss my...'' Gwaine started, but closed his mouth when one of the cooks looked at him in a nasty way. ''And yes, I want to assume the responsibility because it was my fault.''

''It wasn't... and you know it's dangerous to act like that in front of that man.'' Elyan said.

''And what is he going to do?''

''He's the king's uncle! He can do whatever he wants and you know he doesn't like us, specifically the three of us because of our blood.''

''Alright, have it your way and. Hey Pers, why did you tell him the three of us had made that choice?''

''It's partly true and Elyan's right, it could have been dangerous for you.'' Percival said.

''Why is everyone suddenly so worried about that?'' Gwaine asked, grabbing an apple.

''Well, to be honest, Elyan and I talked a bit about it, but...'' Percival hesitated and grabbed some food. ''It was Leon who asked us to cover your back.''

''He did?''

''He's worried about you.'' Elyan said.

''He's worried that I find him tremendously sexy?'' Gwaine asked, hiding his feelings behind humour.

''This is serious, Gwaine, we all lied to Agravaine because we can't even imagine what we would have done if you had told him the truth.''

''Arthur would understand, but Agravaine? Don't even think about it'' Percival said. ''Should we go back?''

''Sure.'' Gwaine said and walked behind his friends. He was feeling somehow relieved that Leon didn't resent him; he was actually worried about him. He hadn't ruined their whole relationship after all. But he didn't know which was worse: Leon ignoring his feelings and 'forgetting', or him being angry at Gwaine.

They got to Leon's room and saw that the knight had been able to walk to the table. Gaius had brought chairs for all of them. They sat and began to eat.

''So...'' Leon started with his mouth full of food. ''Five days and I'll be completely fine, what do you think?''

''It's good, isn't it?'' Elyan asked.

''Yes but will you be ready that day?''

''Aren't we always ready?'' Gwaine said.

''I don't think they're getting it, Leon.'' Gaius commented.

''Get what?''

''We leave in five days to rescue Merlin and Arthur.'' Leon said.

''So we don't care about what Agravaine said, do we?'' Percival asked.

''No.''

''We ride at dawn?''

''As always.''

And with that, the plan was made.

TheLoner7


	5. Murlin and Dollop Head

**A/N: **Hello beautiful people from the internet! I am so so so sorry for taking so long to write this one. It's my first time writing Merthur and I've had a terrible writer's block, I apologise. But I will try to post the next chapter quick! Thank you for the favourites, follows and Silk's Shadow's kind review. Please. guys, keep telling me what you think about my fic, it seriously means a lot.

This chapter is for my friend Elen, that's why the original name was 'Deep Merthur Shit', but she knows I love her even though I changed the name. Thank you for everything little dragon!

Words without A/N: 1 993

**5\. Dollop head and Murlin**

_''__What is done in love is done well.'' Vincent Van Gogh_

''... erlin! Merlin! Psst, Merlin!'' The young warlock woke up to Arthur's voice calling him.

''Arthur? What happened?'' Merlin asked, feeling a terrible pain in his head and eyes. He realised that he was on his knees, a tall man holding him in place, Arthur was next to him in the same position. He looked around, they were in a big room, guards everywhere. He also noticed that it was nigh time because of the torches and the big fire in the middle of the room.

''Merlin, are you alright?'' The kings asked, looking concerned. The warlock noticed Arthur's black eye, he must have tried to fight.

''I... I don't know... where are..?''

''Hey! Both of you stop it!'' The man who has Arthur snapped. ''No one gave you permission to talk.''

Merlin and Arthur gave each other concerned looks and remained quiet. Merlin tried to remember what had happened: he was sure they had been on a fight and that Arthur had rescued him, then he tried to... what had he been trying to do? Anyways, someone had hit him in the head and at that moment they were... well, whatever that place was. It was quiet for almost a minute, and then they heard footsteps and an angry voice.

''... better be good!'' An angry manly voice was heard, coming closer. ''You know I don't like it when you wake me up. This has to be good, if not...''

''My lord, this is good, I... I promise... be... better than anything we´ve ever captured.'' A shaky voice said, it belonged to a man as well.

''If you are lying to me, Benny Boy, I'm going to...'' The man talking walked into the room; he closed his mouth and opened his eyes with surprise. After staring at Arthur for a while, he laughed. ''Well, well, well, look at that, Benny.''

The man grabbed his fat belly and laughed out loud again. Merlin felt somehow scared, what was this man going to do with them? He touched Arthur's chin with a fat and dirty finger, but the king moved his head, making the man slap him.

''Don't act like that, little knight!'' The man snapped. ''If you don't want me to beat the living...''

''My... my lord, he is much more than a knight.'' The man who had been called Benny said. His master looked more carefully.

''Well, he is from Camelot, I can see that because of the uniform. Let me see... that hair colour, I have seen it before, but in a woman. And those eyes, they remind me of a man, a very cruel and powerful man... Blimey! But this is King Arthur! Ha! Your majesty, Gradel, at your service.'' The man said, bowing and laughing. Arthur didn't move or react. ''Gentlemen, take a look at this! King Arthur is now my slave!''

''Let us go, now.'' Arthur said seriously.

''You think we will just let you go?'' Gradel said with a smile that showed all his damaged and nasty teeth. ''No, no, my dear king, you are now mine and I will have a great reward for you.''

''I'm sure, my lord, I'm sure that King...'' Benny started.

''No king is going to have him, idiot!'' Gradel shouted and hit his servant. ''But Lady Morgana will... Ha! Look at his face! Look at the king's scared face! Yes, Arthur Pendragon, Morgana has offered so much for you. Unfortunately, she is on a trip far away and coming back could take her fifteen days at least. But fear not, my lord, you can stay here until she is back.''

''And you think she will give you what you wish?'' Arthur asked.

''Why? Do you have something better to offer?''

''Well, nothing is going to make me change my mind about sending you to prison, but...''

''Morgana offers me lands! She has promised to make noble men our slaves and beautiful women our wives. And what do you want to give me? A clean dungeon?''

''Listen, I cannot let you be free, you have captured my people and sold them as slaves''

''It's called business, King Arthur.'' Gradel said, completely serious now. ''There is not deal. Guards, take the king and the boy to a cell. Tomorrow, I will send a letter to Lady Morgana and give you a little raise. Benny, don't wake me up again.''

Gradel left, the two men holding Merlin and Arthur made them stand up. Merlin did what Arthur had told him to do if he ever got captured: he observed the place and memorised it. He paid close attention to the route to the dungeons. When they got there, Gradel's men threw them into a cell, closed the door and walked away. Arthur looked at them with disgust.

''Are you okay?'' Merlin asked.

''Yes, yes, Merlin, the question is are you okay? It was a terrible hit.'' Arthur said and touched Merlin's head, causing the warlock to moan in pain. ''I'm sorry, it isn't better?''

''Better?'' Merlin asked, touching the painful area. ''Arthur, I have to be honest with you, I don't know what is going on.''

''As always? Well, Merlin, remember the fight? Let me give you a short version: they captured you, I tried to help, but the same thing happened to me. Then you tried to help us escape, but...''

''They hit me in the head.''

''Indeed.''

''And I passed out?''

''For a bloody day and a half!''

''A day?'' Merlin asked, surprised.

''And a half.'' Arthur laughed. ''Seriously, Merlin, how do you do that?''

''Arthur, I am so sorry. It's my fault that we are here and now...'' Merlin started, but Arthur interrupted him with a kiss. Then he whispered. ''You didn't have to do that.''

''But I did, Merlin, and I don't regret doing so.'' Arthur whispered back, with his eyes still closed.

''I'm sorry.'' Merlin said. He felt so guilty, they wouldn't be there if it hadn't been for him.

''I chose to do that, alright?'' Arthur said, leaning against a wall and hugging Merlin.

''But, Arthur...''

''But nothing.'' The king said, kissing the other man again. ''Just shut up, Merlin.''

The warlock smiled, even though they were basically slaves and had no plan to escape, it was nice having time for themselves. He also giggled a bit when Arthur said his name, he had always found it funny.

''Are you laughing at me?'' Arthur asked, giving his servant a soft punch on the shoulder.

''No.'' Merlin answered, laughing once again. ''Just say my name.''

''Merlin, this is ridiculous, why are you...?'' Arthur started but was interrupted by Merlin roaring with laughter. ''What is so funny? Seriously, Merlin, how hard was the hit?''

''It's just the way you say...''

''Merlin, don't make me regret getting captured for you.''

''Sorry.'' Merlin said and made Arthur put his head on his lap, he seemed tired. The warlock smiled, why did Arthur pronounce his name like that? Everyone else called him Merlin, naturally. But it was as if Arthur replaced the E with a U, making it sound like Murlin. And he loved that, he loved being Arthur's Murlin.

''Don't be so scared.'' Arthur said.

''I'm not scared... But how are we getting out of here?''

''I'm not sure, Merlin, if we can't make a plan to escape, we will just have to wait.''

''What about the knights?''

''I'm sure they did the right thing, Merlin, I think one of them got wounded, I don't know who. Going back to Camelot was the best thing to do. What if they had been captured as well? No one in Camelot knew where we were going. They will announce it to everyone and come back for us.''

''Are you sure, Arthur?'' Merlin asked.

''Yes, Merlin, don't worry.'' Arthur held Merlin's hand. ''If not, we will find a way to escape, I promise.''

''Merlin felt safer with that, but what if everything failed? If they couldn't escape and Morgana reached them... well, he could do something with magic. However, he was afraid of that, really afraid. If he had to use magic, how would Arthur react? That question bothered him more than anything. He didn't want the king to discover his magic by accident, Merlin wanted to tell him.

_Does he even love me?_ Merlin thought. And that doubt was real. On many occasions, Arthur had acted completely loving to Merlin, he was in that situation because of him, actually. But he had never said those three words: I love you. Arthur had told a lot of people he loved them, he had even shouted that to Percival once when he saved his life. Merlin had also tried thinking about it in a different way, they had an uncommon type of relationship. But he had also said that to Gwen before their romance died. Was Arthur embarrassed of them?

Then, as if the king had been reading his mind, he whispered. ''I love you.''

''You what?'' Merlin said, sounding so impressed that he ruined the moment.

''Ah, come on, really?'' Arthur complained, standing up. ''This is the first time I try to be your romantic man and...''

''Wait... my romantic man?'' Merlin laughed.

''Oh, I'm so sorry, I got it wrong. I'm actually Gaius' romantic man... of course your romantic man, you stupid...''

''But I love you too.'' Merlin said, smiling.

''Was it hard to say?'' Arthur smiled, sitting down again.

Merlin took Arthur's hand when he sat next to him and smiled lovingly. He was unbelievable happy. Arthur was his 'romantic man', his king, his love. They stared into each other's eyes for a while.

''Why were you so surprised, Merlin?'' Arthur asked. ''I mean, it wouldn't be the first time someone didn't love me back, but...''

''No! No, Arthur, no. I do love you.'' Merlin said, squeezing his hand. ''It's just that I wasn't sure about you feeling like that.''

''Why do you say that, Merlin?''

''Well... these past few months nothing has been serious. There are just quick kisses when no one's looking and me going to your room late at night, little things like that. But we have never actually talked about...''

''Merlin, if you've ever wanted to talk you could have...''

''But you are the king, I didn't want to interrupt your duties.''

''Oh, shut up, Merlin.'' Arthur said and Merlin smiled, he had said 'Murlin' again. ''Well, maybe I was just waiting.''

''Waiting? For what?''

''I have been thinking a lot lately and...''

''Wait, you can think?''

''Merlin, this is serious.'' Arthur said and took a deep breath. ''Look, my uncle's opinion is very important for me and you know that I have done a lot of things most royals wouldn't approve. Agravaine has never liked having Gwaine, Percival and Elyan as knights, he wasn't a fan of my relationship with Guinevere either. I try not to care too much and to be free, even though it's actually important for me. But, Merlin, I want my uncle to know about us.''

Merlin smiled. ''You do?''

''Of course, Merlin. And you're right, we haven't talked about us, but believe me when I say that I want to take this more seriously.'' Arthur said, Merlin grabbed his face carefully and kissed him. Then, the king whispered. ''And then, who knows what could happen? With Agravaine's approbation or not, I will be with you no matter what.''

''Whatever happens, I'm just happy I'm with you.'' Merlin said, resting his head on Arthur's shoulder.

''Me too, Merlin.''

''Murlin.'' He laughed.

''Are you making fun of me?''

''No.''

''Then why are you laughing?''

''Because you're a dollop head.''

''Just shut up.'' Arthur said with humour, kissing his servant's forehead. ''I will get you out of here, Merlin, I promise.''

Eventually, both men fell asleep. They were prisoners, cold, hungry and, somehow, better than ever. Murlin and Dollop head.

**Review?**


	6. Drunk and in love

**A/N:** Hello beautiful people from the internet! I am so sorry, I don't think I've ever taken so long to post a new chapter, but a million things happened and ugh I barely have time to write. I can't promise that the new chapter will come soon, I start school on Monday, but I promise that I will try to be quick. Thank you so much for all the follows, favourites and kind reviews! It means a lot to me, that's why this chapter is super long, longer than any other.

Sooo, I have news. In case you don't have a Twitter/don't follow me there, I want to tell you what happened. Rupert and Eoin (Leon and Gwaine) know about this fic. Someone tweeted them a screenshot of the summary, Rupert tweeted it, Eoin answered and I fangirled like an idiot at 1am. BOOM I died. I still don't know how to feel about it, sometimes I feel happy and sometimes I feel like an idiot. But I still fangirl about it.

So yeah, please tell me what you think about this chapter and enjoy!

Words without A/N: 3 262

**6\. Drunk and in love**

''_Cause a bottle of vodka is still lodged in my head and some blond gave me nightmares.'' _Bon Jovi

If Leon had known how his day would go, he wouldn't have even gotten out of bed. Of course, if he hadn't been so desperate to leave his room. Gaius had told him that he could go out that day and the knight received the news happily. It had been four days since their return to Camelot, meaning that they would leave in two days; Leon wanted to be fine by then. He just wanted to train and recover from his wound as soon as possible.

After a little inspection by Gaius, Leon got out of his room and headed to the training court, where his friends were. Luckily, he wasn't feeling a lot of pain and was willing to make his wound heal.

''Leon, are you sure you want to do this?'' Percival asked him.

''Absolutely.'' He answered.

''You know that we have to be strong for the mission, right?'' Elyan asked. ''You should save your...''

''I'm fine. I will be okay as all of you, I just don't want my body to get used to resting.''

''Just be careful.'' Gwaine said.

The fact that his friends were worried about him made Leon feel important and loved, but somehow annoyed. He hated being fragile or the victim. That was probably Leon's worst aspect, his huge pride. He always tried to be humble, to help others, but he wasn't happy with the idea of being helped. He never expressed that tough; he had been saved so many times that expressing that would make him sound ungrateful.

Leon felt incredibly good with a sword back in his hand. There was a slight pain on his side, but nothing he couldn't resist. They practiced for a bit and joked as always. Then he saw who he really needed to see, one of his old friends: Sir Martin.

''Hey, Martin!'' He called, running towards him.

''Oh, hello, Leon, it's good seeing you. I had no idea you were training today, how are you feeling?'' The knight answered. They had always been good friends, but Leon had pushed himself away a little when the others came.

''Great, a lot better.''

''I'm glad to hear that.'' Martin said, giving Leon a friendly punch and then putting his arm around his shoulders.

''It's good seeing you again, my friend.'' Leon said, speaking lower. ''Look, I need you to do something for me.''

''Sure, anything... Oh, and, by the way, when is Agravaine sending someone to rescue Arthur? It's been four days.''

''To be honest, I don't think he will.''

''You doubt Agravaine?''

''Well...'' Leon said, hesitating. He didn't know if his friend trusted Agravaine.

''I thought I was the only one.'' Martin said with a sigh of relief.

''Welcome to the club.'' Leon laughed, moving his eyes to his friends, who were staring at them.

''So, if Agravaine sends no one, what is going to happen?''

''That is exactly what I wanted to talk about with you. Martin, we are going for Arthur.''

''Great, and what do you need?''

''I will be completely fine in two days, we leave on that day. But we want to do it without Agravaine seeing us. You are in charge of guarding the doors on that day, right?''

''So you need me to open them for you and then lie or something.''

''If there is no problem with...''

''Of course there's not a problem, Leon, there is more than one way to leave Camelot, he won't know. Just let me see Agravaine's face when you're back with Arthur, that's all I ask for.''

''Done, my friend, thank you.''

''You ride at dawn? I'll have the doors prepared.'' Martin said, walking away.

''Thank you again!'' Leon said and Martin just waved. Leon returned to his friends, who were looking at him.

''What were you talking about with him?'' Gwaine asked in an almost jealous way.

''I have some great news for you.'' Leon said enthusiastically. ''Listen, I'm almost sure Agravaine won't let us go for Arthur and Merlin.''

''He surely won't, that's why we have the plan, don't we?'' Percival asked.

''Yes, but there was a problem with that plan. The doors can't be opened for us if we don't have Agravaine's permission. At first, I was thinking about going through a secret door, but we would have no horses. However, Martin is in charge of the doors on the day we leave and he is willing to help us, we can prepare the horses the night before and leave at dawn.''

''That's great!''

''Absolutely, but won't Sir Martin get into trouble?'' Elyan asked.

''He is smart, he can make something up.'' Leon said.

''Oh, that's brilliant. I'm sure stupid-face won't notice.'' Gwaine laughed

''Stupid-face?''

''Right behind you. Oh, wonderful, he's walking towards us, what a lovely surprise!'' Gwaine said jokingly, waving. When Leon turned, he saw Agravaine waving back. He couldn't help but to smile, Gwaine's nickname suited him.

''Gentlemen.'' Agravaine said, offering them a fake smile.

''My Lord.'' Leon answered.

''Feeling better, Sir Leon?''

''Much better, sire.''

''Good. Well, my dear knights, I just wanted to congratulate you. I have observed today's training and it seems that you are getting better.''

Percival cleared his throat. ''So, does that mean that...?''

''What, Sir Percival?''

''Well, you seemed unhappy with our training last time we spoke, sire. And we were wondering if you have thought about...''

''Oh, about your petition? I am still thinking about it.'' Agravaine smiled smugly.

''What?''

''My dear knights, you need to understand. I can't give you permission if you don't show me you have to abilities to go for my dear nephew.''

''We have done that lots of times and you just said...''

''All you did today was not enough, Sir Percival.''

''But King Arthur...''

''That's it! Enough!'' Agravaine shouted. ''You will never get permission with that attitude.''

''You just want the throne for yourself, don't you?'' Gwaine exploded before anyone could stop him.

''Be careful with those...'' Agravaine started screaming. He stopped, gave Gwaine a fake smile, took a deep breath and continued with a calmer tone. ''Well, what could you expect from an ignorant and uneducated little peasant? Be very careful, Sir Gwaine, because Arthur left me in charge and, if he never returns, you could be saying goodbye to your title.''

Agravaine walked away as if he was king of everything. Leon thought Gwaine was going to chase him or something, and he was ready to stop him. But, when he looked at him, he saw a sad and broken expression. The knight threw his sword and walked away.

''Gwaine.'' Leon said, but the other ignored him. Gwaine wasn't the type of person who got offended easily, but Agravaine's comment had been too mean.

''Should we go after him?'' Elyan asked.

''Maybe let's leave him alone for a while. Let him punch something and calm down. We will see how he is later.'' Leon answered. He wanted to follow Gwaine and help him, but he didn't know how or if it was the right thing to do he wished Gwaine wouldn't feel the way he did for him, it made everything harder. ''Come on, guys, let's have a little rest.''

Leon was walking around the castle nervously. It was late at night and he hadn't seen Gwaine since training. Leon had decided to leave Gwaine alone for a couple of hours, but, when he went looking for him, he couldn't find him anywhere. So many hours had passed, of course Leon was worried. It was incredibly late, some knights were going to seep. He was going to give up when he heard two familiar laughs.

''I can't believe you aren't worried about him.'' Leon said when he saw his friends.

''For the millionth time, Leon, he's surely fine. Stop worrying.'' Percival said.

''How do you know?''

''We saw him like an hour ago, he was okay.'' Elyan said.

''Oh... and where is he?''

''He said he was going to the tavern.''

''What?'' Leon asked furiously. ''And you didn't stop him?''

''Why would we?''

''Because you know how much Gwaine drinks when he's upset! And we leave Camelot in two days!''

''Well, we are not if you keep screaming. I wouldn't be surprised if Agravaine heard everything you just said.''

''How could you two let him do that?''

''Oh, come on, Leon, what's the worst thing that could happen?''

''Seriously? Gwaine always gets into fights when we don't go to control him.''

''Oh, you want to have some control over Gwaine, don't you?'' Elyan joked and Percival laughed.

''This can't be true.'' Leon said, covering his face with his hands. ''Do you actually know about...?''

''Well, if Gwaine stopped being princess obvious...'' Percival started.

''Alright, alright, enough with the jokes. I'm going for him.'' Leon interrupted.

''Do you want help? I bet the wound still hurts.''

''No. You coming to the tavern as well? You have as much self control as Gwaine when it comes to alcohol.'' Leon said, pushing his friends away. ''And go to sleep, now.''

Elyan and Percival laughed, but headed to their rooms. Leon was so angry and he promised himself that he would never let Gwaine go alone anywhere when he was upset. All he had wanted when he got up was a nice and peaceful day. Even his plans for a normal night were ruined.

As he reached the tavern, Leon could hear the loud talking and the rest of the noises. He took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping inside. He walked around for a bit, looking for Gwaine, but he was nowhere to be seen. He decided to ask the owner, hoping that he knew where Gwaine was.

''Hello. Excuse me, I was wondering if...'' Leon started, but someone tripped with him. ''Hey!''

The man who had basically pushed Leon turned around, revealing himself. Gwaine looked so drunk. ''Oh, hello you. Have you come to help me?'' He asked, and two men appeared out of nowhere, staring at Gwaine furiously.

''Hang on there. We don't want any conflicts, thank you so much.'' Leon said, grabbing Gwaine's shirt and stopping the two men.

''Oh, my boy, you can drink, can't you?'' The owner of the tavern laughed.

''Sorry about that.'' Leon said, preventing Gwaine from grabbing another drink. ''How much did he drink?''

''I... I can't remember.''

''Oh, great... do you think you will remember tomorrow? He will come back and pay, I promise.'' Leon said and the man nodded. Then, he grabbed Gwaine's arm tightly. ''We are leaving, you and I need to talk.''

The good thing: Gwaine was obedient; he followed Leon outside without complaining. The bad thing: he was tremendously drunk... and emotional and flirty. As soon as Leon closed the door behind them, he pushed Gwaine against a wall.

''What on earth were you doing?'' Leon asked angrily.

''Relax, pretty one, I came here just for a drink.'' Gwaine answered.

''Just a drink? Just a drink, Gwaine?'' Leon shouted, shaking the other man. ''We leave Camelot in two days to rescue Merlin and Arthur, and even the owner forgot how much you drank.''

''Well, you must be the wisest man ever because I have never heard of a hangover that has lasted two days.''

''You could have gotten hurt, two men were about to hit you. Why do you have to be so irresponsible?''

''I will be careful, I promise, Sir. But, if you could excuse me, there's a drink waiting for me on a table'' Gwaine said, pushing Leon away.

''Gwaine, you are stopping right now!'' Leon shouted, returning the other man to his old position: against the wall. ''What do I have to do to make you act like the knight of Camelot you are?''

''Ah, come on, Leon.''

''No, Gwaine, seriously. There must be something.''

''Leon, could you...?''

''I am serious, what do you want?''

''You know exactly what I want.'' Gwaine said, suddenly dead serious. He looked into Leon's eyes in a mischievous way.

''Gwaine, are you..?'' Leon started, but froze. The comment had taken him by surprise. He was completely speechless, how could Gwaine go from drunkenly stupid to dead serious in seconds? Either Gwaine had had enough or he saw the opportunity and took it. Leon would have probably thought that the other was joking if his eyes weren't saying, _yes, idiot, I just said I want you._ But it had been his fault for insisting.

Would a kiss be enough? If Leon gave Gwaine what he wanted, would he change for better? Maybe he would promise to be more careful about his choices and to stop acting like a child every time he got upset... but was that really Leon's motivation to kiss Gwaine? The shorter man was looking at him determined but lovingly, something sexy about him. It was a cold night, but Leon could feel Gwaine's warm body; damn, they were so close. A little voice inside Leon's head went, _ah, come on, just go for it. _Leon put one of his hands on Gwaine's face, and closed his eyes. He started getting closer and closer, his lips were about to touch Gwaine's. But the most unexpected thing happened: Gwaine looked down and pushed him away softly.

Leon cleared his throat while a million things went through his head. There was this strange feeling, disappointment? Maybe. _What on earth am I doing_, he thought. He tried shutting his mind up with his voice. ''You erm... you tell me you love me one day and...''

''Oh, don't get me wrong.'' Gwaine said, looking hurt. ''You are beautiful, smart, admirable and tremendously sexy... but this is not okay. If you ever kiss me, I want it to be because you actually feel something.''

''I... I'm sorry, Gwaine, I was so stupid for doing this.'' Leon said, thinking straight and hoping that Gwaine wouldn't remember anything in the morning. ''I was being a child and I don't want you to change, forgive me.''

''I could change for you without hesitation, but it's hard, you know?''

''I don't want you to change, Gwaine. I want you to stop this, it's always the same when you get offended.''

''Do you know why I was drinking?''

''What?''

''I said: do you know why I was drinking?'' Gwaine asked again and Leon moved his head negatively. ''It wasn't for stupid-face's comment. I usually drink for fun...''

''Or when you have a bad day.''

''For fun, as I was saying. And I think that everyone should do that. But some tell me that they do it to forget someone. I was not in the mood to drink, but I thought it would help me to forget. And you know what? Those idiots lied to me, I didn't forget at all. You were the only thing in my stupid mind.''

Leon remained silent, he didn't know how to react. What are you supposed to say when someone admits thinking about you when their mind is drowning in alcohol? Thank you? Leon spoke. ''Gwaine, I'll take you home, tomorrow we'll talk about this.''

''No, Leon.'' He answered, trying to look sober. ''I can go alone and I won't talk about this.''

''The castle is on the opposite direction, idiot.'' Leon said and Gwaine looked at him confused. The blond walked towards him and made Gwaine put his arm around his shoulders. It hurt a bit, but he had to take his friend to his room. ''Come on, let me help you.''

''I don't need your help.'' Gwaine said, but didn't remove his arm.

''Of course you do... if you want, we won't talk about this, I can forget about the whole thing.''

''Forget.'' Gwaine whispered, the two men remained silent for a bit. ''Let me tell you a story.''

''I'd rather not hear about it, Gwaine'' Leon said. He knew that drunk people always told the worst stories.

''I'm telling you the story anyways.'' The other laughed. ''I had a friend once, he was a good man and crazy about this girl. He really loved her with passion and it was beautiful seeing how much he cared about her. The thing is that she didn't like him back and tried to push him away so many times. After a while, she grew absolutely tired and became rude. Still, he loved her. She made him sad, of course, but he wasn't giving up on her... but, one day, she just stopped and pretended he was invisible. She ignored his existence completely. And he said: 'Gwaine, being ignored hurts more than being hated.' For a long time, I thought it was nonsense. But he's right, it does hurt more.''

''Gwaine, whatever you're trying to say with that, just know that I don't ignore you.''

''Bu you ignore the way I feel. And then you get angry at me when...''

''And what am I supposed to do? Gwaine, if I could love you back...'' Leon stopped abruptly, would he love him too? He sighed. ''Look, I care about you, but I can't make feelings appear out of nowhere.''

''In other words?''

''I want you to be happy, but doesn't my happiness count too?''

''I know you don't love me, you have proven me that. But, just like you, I can't pretend this isn't happening. Love is putting someone's happiness before yours. And I do that... I do that.'' Gwaine said with tears flooding his eyes. ''I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you all this. I won't even remember most of what happened tomorrow.''

''It's okay.'' Leon muttered. He didn't know what to say. He was surprised and overwhelmed and... He looked at Gwaine, he was an idiot most of the time, but he could also be so smart and wise. Leon didn't know much about love, but everything his friend had said sent chills down his spine. Strangely, he wished Gwaine would collapse so he could carry him, even if that meant reopening his wound. Leon had never been so confused, the only thing he knew was that the other man's arm around him made him feel safe and comfortable... was that right?

When they finally made it to Gwaine's room, there was just a 'thank you, I'm sorry.' Nothing else. No petition to stay. No comment. No kiss. Nothing. Even though both men wanted that.

Gwaine didn't fall asleep instantly. He could remember a few things from that night and all of them made him feel like an idiot. He felt a tear roll down his cheek. The man who didn't love him was in his mind and refused to leave. Gwaine thought about Leon when he was drunk and when he was sober, when he was awake and when he was asleep. And that was more painful than any other torture.

Leon had to work hard to fall asleep too. He was thinking, thinking about Gwaine and everything he had said. He was handsome, clever, funny, and absolutely in love with him. If Leon could choose, would he love him back? He shouldn't and he couldn't, it wasn't right... but Gwaine loved him and... He laughed at himself. Sir Leon, admirable and responsible Sir Leon, was more confused than ever before.

One of them loved the other with burning passion and courage. The other loved him with fear and insecurity. But, at the end of the day, isn't that how great love stories always begin?

**Review?**

**TheLoner7**


	7. When it's too late

**A/N: **Hello beautiful people from the internet! I'm sorry, so sorry, I'd understand if you wanted to kill me now. I'm sorry for taking so long, I told you school was going to get in the way. I can't believe it took me more than a month to finish with this chapter, but I promise I won't take that long with next one because of... reasons *cough* cliffhanger *cough*. Seriously, guys, thank you so much for the follows, favourites and reviews, they keep me going! Please keep on telling me what you think about the fic and enjoy!

Words without A/N: 3 417

**7\. When it´s too late**

_''__I want to stand with you on a mountain, I want to bathe with you in the sea, I want to lay like this forever, until the sky falls down on me.'' _Savage Garden

''Is Agravaine awake?''

''I don't think so, Pers.''

''Should we check that out or something?''

''Doesn't seem like a good idea, the horses are coming.''

''What if he's awake?''

''He is not. And what is he going to do if he is? Follow us?''

''He could send someone.''

''And that is going to take time, don't worry. Besides, almost every knight is on our side. I doubt they will actually capture us.''

''I guess you're right'' Percival whispered. ''Look, they're coming.''

Leon let out a sigh of relief when he saw Elyan and Gwaine guiding the horses towards them, they had to be slow though, no one should hear them. That was the day they had to leave Camelot to rescue Merlin and Arthur. And, yes, they had to be careful; as Percival had said, Agravaine being awake was a possibility. Plus, some knights were strict, no matter how close they were, they wouldn't let them leave Camelot without Agravaine's permission.

After checking that the horses were packed with everything they needed, they headed to the doors as quietly as possible. Sir Martin was waiting for them and opened the doors with precaution when he saw them.

''Leon, the dawn patrol left around an hour ago, you won't encounter them if you're careful.'' He said when Leon's horse stood next to him. ''If you are worried about anything concerning me, don't. There are a lot of secret tunnels Agravaine knows you are aware of. You could have escaped through one of them without me or anyone noticing. Good luck and bring him back''

''Thank you, Martin.'' Leon said. ''Be careful.''

After that, the four knights of Camelot left quickly, riding carefully at first and hurrying as soon as it seemed safe. They had agreed on having no breaks, they had planned on resting at night and at night only. Each hour that passed was more tiring for them and the horses. But they had to keep moving.

When there was a safe distance between them and Camelot, they slowed down a little. Leon was glad they were moving fast towards their destiny and being calmer gave him time to think. He yawned before anything, oh man, he was tired. The sad thing was that, obviously, he would have to take one watch at night, meaning that he wouldn't sleep well... as the night before... and the night before that one.

Leon was afraid, absolutely terrified. He had directed patrols to find Arthur, but never a mission that big. The thought of failing scared Leon more than he would have liked to admit. But, apparently, he knew how to hide it, as no one had ever noticed how nervous he was every time he left for a quest. He was aware of his strength and wisdom, but thinking about ruining everything was overwhelming.

He couldn't fail on this mission, he would never forgive himself if he did. It was the king of Camelot the whole thing was about, if he and his friends failed, everything would be ruined. Camelot would end up being ruled by Agravaine or, worse, Morgana. No, they couldn't fail. He wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay, that Arthur was safe, meaning that Camelot was safe. In the future, Leon wanted to remember all that as an accident, not his fault, not even Gwaine's fault...

Gwaine.

Damn it! Why had he thought about him? For the past days, the simple name of the man made Leon have hours of conflict with himself. At the beginning, he had been absolutely sure about what he wanted: he wasn't going to be with Gwaine. His friend's confession had made him feel totally uncomfortable and guilty for blaming Gwaine; he couldn't understand though, he had never been in love. However, since the night Gwaine had gotten drunk, the conflicts with himself were more unpleasant than ever.

Leon looked at Gwaine, the knight wasn't joking or laughing, there was a serious expression on his face instead. He wondered if his friend was truly okay, he wasn't being himself. He was surely still sad because of the rejection, but he had to get over it, hadn't he? It could have been stress as well... along with a million things inside his head. _He will be fine,_ Leon thought.

''This seems like a good place to rest.'' Percival said when the sun started hiding behind the trees, everyone was too tired to answer. They all sat down, let the horses rest and ate in silence. When it was absolutely dark, except for the fire they had made, they were ready to sleep. Elyan had first watch, Leon was getting the second, which made him somehow happy for having some time to rest, just for a couple of hours.

Two hours after laying down to sleep, Elyan woke Leon up as it was his turn. He was exhausted, but had to stay awake for two hours until Gwaine's turn arrived. He sat using a tree as support for his back and yawned a couple of times. Something nice about the situation was how quiet it was, that place was everything but dangerous, it made Leon feel as if time was running quickly, soon enough he would be resting again and waking up some hours later with more energy.

Nothing was actually on his mind, he was too tired to think about anything that wasn't time. His head felt heavy on his neck and he could barely keep his eyes opened. He was slowly losing himself to sleep, slowly slee... no, wait, he had to remain awake for more time. The place was safe, yes, but he couldn't just fall asleep. It was ironically that dilemma that put Leon to sleep.

The knight opened his eyes suddenly when he heard something moving closely and... water falling? He stood up and drew his sword out immediately. Bloody hell, for how long had he been sleeping? He hoped it hadn't been much. He grabbed his sword and started walking towards the sound. He could hear it clearly then, it was dangerously close. He was about to see what was there but...

''Can I get some privacy here?'' Gwaine's voice was heard.

Leon sighed ''Gwaine, what on earth...?''

''Nature was calling.'' The other answered, finishing up and walking towards Leon, he noticed that sword. ''You should put that away, we don't want you to lose sleep, do we?''

''Right, sorry. Do you know for how long I slept?''

''I'm not sure, I woke up and everyone was asleep so I supposed it was my turn, but I had to get rid of the liquids inside my body before...''

''Alright, thanks.'' Leon said, sitting down as before and yawning.

''You know you are sleeping now, don't you?'' Gwaine said, sitting next to his friend.

''I can`t, Gwaine, I missed my turn so I have to do it again.''

''But you're exhausted and I'm already awake, I'll do it.''

''I can't, Gwaine.''

''Why not?''

''I just... are you sure?''

''Sure, no problem.''

Leon sighed and looked downwards. Once again, Gwaine was being nice to him after being treated like nothing. However, Leon was absolutely tired and it was a tempting proposal. ''You don't have a problem with that?''

''None at all.'' Gwaine smiled.

''Alright, but if you're feeling tired or something, just wake me up. Thank you, Gwaine.''

''Sure.'' The other one said.

Leon laid down, he was so relieved to finally get some sleep. Ironically, as soon as his head touched the ground, he felt more awake than ever. He closed his eyes, but couldn't reach sleep at all. He tried rolling over, facing Gwaine, to see if a new position would help, he was about to close his eyes again, but the sight of the other man stopped him.

''Well, hello there.'' Gwaine said with a smile when he noticed that the knight had been staring at him.

''Sorry, I can't sleep.'' Leon said, leaving his position to sit next to his friend. ''I just lost sleep for some strange reason, has it ever happened to you?''

''All of the time.''

''Do you know what that means?''

After a little hesitation, Gwaine answered ''No idea.''

''Well, obviously, I can't go to sleep anymore, do you want to get some rest?''

''Nah, it's alright, I'm not tired either.'' Gwaine said.

The two men remained silent for a moment, it was either a nice or awkward silence, Leon couldn't tell. ''So... do you think dawn is near?'' He asked, it was a stupid question, he knew, but he wanted to get rid of the silence.

''I don't think so, but it's hard to tell as someone fell asleep and...''

''Sorry about that.''

''Hey, I was joking.'' Gwaine said, hitting Leon softly with his elbow. ''I didn't mean it like that.''

''It's fine, I shouldn't have fallen asleep anyways.''

''Not that you could have controlled it. Did you get enough sleep last night?''

''Not much.'' Leon confessed. _Not since that night we both know about,_ he wanted to say.

''It might be stress, try not to worry.''

''But, Gwaine, it's the king and I am leading a mission to rescue him. It's not like one of those times when he got lost in the forest with Merlin, this is much more serious, I think I can be...''

''You have never failed.''

''What?''

''Come on, are you seriously going to say you have failed?''

''I may have, everyone fails sometimes, Gwaine.''

''I don't believe that.''

''Maybe I'm just too afraid to do so.'' Leon said, lowering his head.

''Scared? Why?''

''Just because... I don't know. We all, once in our lives, make a big mistake, a huge mistake we cannot repair. I am afraid because you never know what you big mistake will be, I always think about that.'' Leon confessed, surprised that it had been that easy to confess his greatest fear.

They stayed in silence again; Gwaine looked at Leon lovingly and spoke. ''We will rescue Merlin and Arthur, you know why? Because you will be guiding us, because it wouldn't be the first time you saved the king, because you're Sir Leon and I trust you can do it.''

''You just... you trust we can do it?'' Leon asked, feeling touched.

''No, I trust you can do it. Look at me, I'm an idiot. Now, look at you, you have been a knight for so many years. The others will kill me if they ever get to know I'm telling you this, but we all admire you; you are pretty much immortal and the greatest knight there is. Leon, if there's someone who can save the king, it's you.''

''Are you sure you aren't just being nice to me?'' Leon asked, knowing that Gwaine was telling the truth, but opposing to believe so.

''Why would I lie to you?'' Gwaine said, the other didn't reply. ''Sorry, I know it's uncomfortable for you when I...''

''It's alright, Gwaine, thank you for trusting me.''

''Of course.'' The other whispered. Silenced ruled for another minute, Leon noticed that Gwaine was uneasy, as if he wanted to say something. After struggling for a while, he managed to speak. ''Look... I... erm wanted to apologise about... about the other night.''

''Oh, how come?''

''I said a lot of stupid things and acted like an idiot, as usual.''

''It's fine, Gwaine.''

''It's not. You were right about me acting like a child having to stop.''

''That was just my bad mood speaking, Gwaine, you don't have to do this. You said you didn't want to talk about this, it's fine.''

''Alright, so it's all good?''

''It's all good.'' Leon said, offering his friend a little smile. A question began to form in his mind, should he ask Gwaine that? It was definitely a stupid question; the other man could get angry at him. Was the possible answer worth the risk? Well, Leon was about to find out. ''Hey, this might be a stupid question, but... do you actually remember things about that night?''

To his surprise, Gwaine laughed. It was a beautiful laugh, natural, careless and full of life, just like the man it belonged to. ''A few things, to be honest.''

''That can't be true!'' Leon laughed back. ''You always do and say so many things drunk you never remember.''

''Oh, please, as if I ever stopped doing stupid things.''

''Well... I have to agree.'' Leon said, smiling. He was glad things weren't weird with Gwaine.

''At least I'm not the only one.''

''Are you implying something?''

''No, sorry, it's just one of my favourite stories.'' Gwaine giggled.

''What is it? Can I hear about... oh, God, Gwaine, it is about me?'' Leon asked and the other blushed. ''Ah, come on.''

''Alright, alright, I will.'' Gwaine said, laughing again. ''Well, some time ago, when I first joined the knights actually, I asked Gwen to tell me embarrassing stories about everyone in Camelot...''

''Oh, dear God.''

''And she told me that this one time, you wore nothing more and nothing less than a dress!''

''She didn't tell you that!''

''She did!'' Gwaine laughed hard, closing his eyes and throwing his head back.

''It was to escape... I told her to never mention it.'' Leon blushed.

''You should know I'm a special case.'' Gwaine answered with a smile. ''I need to ask you something serious, Leon... was it a beautiful dress?''

Leon roared with laughter, ignoring the fact that Percival and Elyan were sleeping next to them completely. He remembered when Elyan moaned and complained. ''Hey, there's people sleeping here.''

''I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Elyan.'' Leon said quickly. Both he and Gwaine stopped laughing automatically. He cleared his throat before whispering. ''But yes, it was indeed a beautiful dress.''

Gwaine covered his mouth and Leon tried to laugh quietly. For a while, both of them completely forgot about how tired they were; sleep was an unknown and distant word. For hours and hours, they joked and shared stories. It was when they realised dawn was near that they woke Percival up and tried to sleep to recover their energies.

''We are going to be so tired tomorrow.'' Leon said, laying down and smiling at Gwaine, as if the matter wasn't important.

''We're going to be fine, I'm sure.'' Gwaine smiled back, using his arm as a pillow and yawning. ''Good night, Leon.''

''Sleep well, Gwaine.'' The blond answered, looking at his friend and the stars before closing his eyes. He felt in peace and harmony, even with closed eyes, he could feel the moonlight, the little fire and all the leaves beneath him. Leon was aware of his breathing and heartbeat, excited yet confident. There was something inside him, something inside his mind that woke every emotion up. His head wasn't a battlefield anymore, everything inside it was calm and peaceful.

Leon didn't know what he was feeling, he just knew that, if he could, he would spend the rest of his life as that. He forced his smile to disappear before losing consciousness and falling asleep.

After some hours of rest, the knights woke up at dawn and rode slower and calmer than the day before; the horse were tired as well, so they couldn't force them much. Hours passed rapidly and they all had the strange feeling that they were closer than expected.

When the sun was setting, the knights decided to continue walking, they had to leave the horses because it would have been too noisy otherwise. The sun was hiding behind the trees as they walked quietly; something inside Leon was telling him to be very careful. In just a matter of minutes, night arrived and they noticed something they hadn't seen before: fire. They couldn't have seen it in the sunlight, of course.

''This is it, we're here.'' Leon said. ''Be careful, it's tremendously close.''

They walked towards the light and took a look at the place, it was bigger than any other illegal fortress they had ever seen. The knights took their swords out, ready for battle; however, after hiding behind some trees, Leon noticed something: the place seemed empty. That was wrong, so wrong, shouldn't there be guards outside? Even a couple of noises, anything to let them know the place was guarded.

''We can see what we need, but...'' Percival started.

''I know, it's strange. Let's continue slowly, it could be a trap, be careful.'' Leon said and kept on walking.

''What the...?'' Percival said when he stepped on something, before he could see what it was, a big rock was thrown directly at him and hit his head. Hard. He lost consciousness immediately and someone screamed from inside the fortress.

''Grab him and run!'' Leon shouted desperately. Of course it had been a trap, those men had the king of Camelot under their power, they were obviously expecting the knights. Elyan and Gwaine carried Percival, following Leon, who was trying to find a place to hide. A bunch of people had already run out of the fortress and began looking for the knights, it was just a matter of minutes before they found them.

''Look, there's a hole over here!'' Elyan said, stopping abruptly behind a big tree. He jumped inside to make sure it wasn't a trap and nodded. Leon and Gwaine worked hard to put Percival with him, safe in his arms. Elyan looked at them with concern and horror just after they did. ''There is space just for one more person.''

Leon sighed desperately; luckily, their enemies were looking for them somewhere else. ''Don't worry, Gwaine and I will...''

''Get in there.'' Gwaine interrupted confidently.

''What?''

''You heard me. We just have another minute or two if we're lucky enough, we can't lose any more time. Get in there now.''

''Gwaine, what about you?''

''I will be okay.''

''How?'' Leon asked terrified and repeated. ''Gwaine, what about you?''

''What we need is a distraction.''

''No. Don't you dare to...''

''Leon ,think about it, they are not going to stop looking until they find at least one. We're useless if they get us all.''

''Are you crazy? They will do anything to know where we are or...''

''You need to rescue Merlin and Arthur, forget about me.''

''I will go instead, Gwaine.'' Leon pleaded, almost crying and more afraid than ever. But the other man stopped him with a hand on his chest.

''No, I made my choice long ago, Leon, and I choose you, your life. Get them, I know you can.'' Gwaine said and, without a warning, he grabbed Leon's face with his other hand and kissed him. It couldn't have lasted for more than a second, but it was the best one any of them had ever had. The unexpected kiss was passionate yet delicate, Gwaine's mischievous tongue entering Leon's mouth made it delicious as well. Gwaine finished it and looked at the other man with tears in his eyes. ''I'm sorry.'' He whispered before pushing Leon inside the hole and running towards the enemy.

''No! Gwaine!'' Leon shouted, ready to chase him, but being stopped by Elyan.

''He is right, Leon, they're not going to find us if he goes.'' Elyan pleaded. ''I don't want him to leave either, but it's for Arthur, please.''

It was true, sadly true. Leon remained in silence, feeling tears roll down his cheeks. The noises of the pursuit stopped, they had found Gwaine. Why had he let that happen? If he hadn't been so surprised by the kiss, he would have made a smart choice, make Gwaine stay. But no, he had stood there like an idiot and allowed himself to be pushed. It was late, too late.

Then he realised.

He loved Gwaine.

Why? Why had he been so stupid? Why did he have to realise that when he was probably going to lose Gwaine? He wanted to follow him, save him, protect him... but Elyan was right, they had to wait and plan everything again, Arthur and Merlin would have to wait... _Gwaine would have to wait._ Leon probably didn't deserve him. No, of course he didn't. Gwaine was willing to risk his life for him and Leon couldn't even make a kiss last more than a second.

**Review?**

**TheLoner7**


	8. A painful whisper

**A/N: **Hello beautiful people from the internet! I'm here again with a new chapter, thank you for waiting, the follows and the favourites! I'm not sure if you've noticed but I just changed the rating to M, so I guess I need to give you a little warning: there is torture present in this chapter; nothing too graphic but still, just in case.

Well, we're getting close to the end of this fic, just three more chapters to go yay! So please, tell me what you think.

Words without A/N: 3 272

**8\. A painful whisper**

_''__And all I loved, I loved alone.'' Edgar Allan Poe_

The steps were loud on the stone floor, probably waking everyone up. The two men in dressed in grey were walking quickly, struggling to make the knight in uniform go at the same speed. He was having fun, actually, stressing his enemies out was something he was great at. He had no idea about where he was going tough, or what was going to happen to him. But he was calm, knowing he had made the right choice.

The two guards made Gwaine walk down some stairs to what seemed the dungeons. When they were down there, the knight heard someone gasp on his right. He turned his head to the sound and saw Merlin and Arthur looking at him from a cell. He winked at them to let them see that help was on its way. Gwaine thought he was going to get thrown into a near cell, but the guards kept walking. When they reached the end of the hallway, one of them opened a door that lead to another set of stairs. After walking down them, they reached a dark and big room.

''Has Benny gone for him?'' One of the guards asked.

''He has.'' The other answered. ''Hold him, I need to tie his hands.''

The man put Gwaine's hands together in front of him and tied them up with a piece of rope, then, he made the knight kneel. Nothing about that bothered Gwaine, he was determined to do anything in his power to stop those men from capturing his friends. However, he had to admit he got scared when noticing the blood on the walls, the room had dried blood everywhere, it was evident even though there wasn't a lot of light.

''Remember why you're here.'' Gwaine whispered.

''What was that?'' One of the men asked.

''Nothing.'' Gwaine muttered. Then he repeated to himself, _remember why you're here. _He thought about Merlin and Arthur, both tired of the nasty cell they were in and ready to go home. He thought of Elyan and Percival, his brave and loyal friends, prepared to fight for Camelot. He thought of Leon, amazing and perfect Leon, Gwaine had chosen to do what he did because of him. He breathed heavily, he had to resist anything for them. For him.

Time passed slowly, Gwaine was nervous and wondered what was going to happen to him. Some noisy steps interrupted his thoughts, two people were walking towards the room. Gwaine paid attention and noticed a voice as well, it belonged to a man, probably to a big and old one. ''... becoming a habit, isn't it Benny?''

''No... not at all, my lord, but this is important, it's...'' a shaky voice replied.

''You captured the king of Camelot a week ago! What could be more important than...?'' The man with the deep voice started, opening the door and noticing Gwaine, his frown became a creepy smile. ''Oh, I see. Good job, boys.''

''You were right, my lord.'' One of the guards said.

''Of course I was right, you pair of idiots! I made you prepare the traps because I knew this was going to happen. Now, send extra men outside and tell them to stay alert, I don't want more casualties.'' The big man said, walking around the room. One of the guards ran out, following his boss's orders. ''Which was the lucky trap that captured him?''

''Surprisingly, none, my lord. A trap was activated, but we found him just outside, trying to get in.''

''Oh, we have a clever one, don't we?'' The man stood right in front of Gwaine and kneeled so he could take a look at his face. Gwaine frowned, his enemy was awful. ''But where are my manners? Right, boys? Hello, Gradel is the name. Mind telling me yours, little knight?''

''Sir Gwaine, knight of Camelot, as you might have noticed.'' Gwaine said as smugly as possible. ''I'm glad I got here, you're the man I was looking for.''

''Ha! And a brave one as well, not many dare to talk to me like that.'' Gradel laughed. ''Tell me, Sir Gwaine, what were you doing around here?''

''Is everyone here stupid or what? What else would I...'' Gwaine started but was interrupted by a slap.

''Do not talk to me like that, have some respect, you stupid knight!'' Gradel screamed, he seemed absolutely furious. It surprised Gwaine, one moment his enemy was laughing, and losing his mind on the next one. The knight was sure the slap wasn't the most painful thing he was going to receive. His attitude wasn't helping, but he needed everyone's attention for the others to succeed.

''Just the obvious.'' Gwaine answered, turning his head and looking at his enemy's eyes directly.

''You wanted to rescue king Arthur, didn't you? You and how many others?''

''Others? No one mentioned other knights.''

''Oh, come on, my dear Sir Gwaine, you didn't come alone. These lands are dangerous, your king is missing, and you expect me to believe Camelot sent one knight? Do you think we're idiots?''

''Well, you're doing a great job at being idiots so...'' Gwaine said, with a special tone he used to annoy people. He was expecting another slap and prepared himself.

But what Gradel did was somehow terrifying, he looked back at his little servant and spoke with a serious voice. ''Benny, bring me my whip, this might take a while.''

''In a moment, my lord.'' The small man said, running upstairs immediately.

''Sir Gwaine, I am not a man of patience but a man of strength. Anger me and the consequences will be severe. Look, I don't know how much pain the average knight of Camelot can bear and I am dying to find out. However, I could wait some more if you just told me where the other knights are.''

''There are no other knights.'' Gwaine said, secretly nervous and scared. ''I already told you, I came here alone.''

''Liar!'' Gradel screamed and slapped Gwaine again. He did that so hard that the knight fell sideways. Oh, man, that hurt, and it was going to get swollen. The slave trader cleared his throat and talked with a calmer voice. ''Please, my dear, you seem a good man. Cooperate with me.''

''I'd rather die.'' Gwaine whispered, tasting blood, _his blood_. That had been a great slap.

''Well, I think we can fix that.'' Gradel said slowly. He stood up and moved his arm, indicating something. The guard holding Gwaine made him stand up and took his armour off, leaving he knight with only his light brown shirt. Then he made him walk towards the wall, and pressed his chest against it. He grabbed the rope holding his hands together and put it on a hook over his head. When he made sure Gwaine wasn't going to escape or free himself, he backed away.

Gradel walked towards Gwaine and breathed heavily, causing a chill run down the knight's spine. He laughed as well, it was a cruel and sadistic smile, he was going to have fun. But Gwaine stood still, trying to control his breathing and having his eyes fixed on the wall in front of him.

_Focus,_ he thought,_ this is going to hurt, you have to be strong. You need to resist, idiot, don't let the pain control you. They want you to be weak and tell them where the others are, but they will never know. If you have to die to save them, then so be it. Protect them._

_ '_'You don't seem scared, Sir Gwaine.'' Gradel said.

Gwaine laughed, if acting like a prick would give the others time, he was going to be one. ''You don't seem scary, Gradel.''

''I know what you're trying to do, my dear. Stop playing games, you can't intimidate me.''

The knight smiled, the slave trader still wasn't aware of his real intentions, he had to keep on lying. ''You already captured me, I don't know what else you want from me.''

''Look, I really don't want to do this. You'd make a wonderful slave and I know men who would pay insane amounts of money for you, don't let me ruin you.''

''I don't know what you want. I already told you I came here alone.'' Gwaine answered smugly. Gradel didn't answer. The knight frowned, his enemy seemed someone who always had the last word. He heard a few steps, the slave trader had walked away from him. He was going to turn his head around... but the whiplash came. Apparently, Benny had come back with Gradel's whip and the man took the opportunity to hit his prisoner. Gwaine screamed, he didn't want to, but it had been so unexpected and painful that he hadn't been able to resist.

Gradel laughed with delight. ''I didn't even use all my strength. You'd better tell me where the others are.''

Gwaine closed his eyes, he was not going to answer. God, the pain was terrible, but he couldn't think about it, no, he had to resist. When the slave trader realised the knight wanted to remain quiet, he hit him again. Gwaine didn't scream with that one, it had been as painful as the one before, but he wanted to save energies.

Another hit came. Gwaine grunted as quietly as possible, if he appeared, strong, Gradel would take his time to try to break him, but, dear lord, what was that whip made of? Stone? The pain it caused was awful and Gradel's laughter every time he hit him just made it worse.

''Please, Sir Gwaine, tell me what I need to know.'' The slave trader said.

''Never.'' Gwaine replied with a little effort.

Gradel dropped the whip and walked towards the knight, he grabbed his hair with rage and spoke. ''Listen to me, if I have to do this a thousand times, I will. King Arthur is now mine, no one will rescue him and you will cooperate. Is that understood?''

''You might as well kill me because I will not open my mouth.'' Gwaine said. The criminal let go off his hair and walked back to where he was. Before the knight could prepare himself, he was hit again.

''Tell... me... where... they are!'' Gradel screamed, hitting Gwaine after every word.

It hurt, it burned. The knight started feeling blood run down his back. He wanted to give up, close his eyes and black out. _Don't do it,_ he thought, _don't let it control you._

''You don't have to keep on feeling this pain. I could make my best men heal what I've just done, I could give you food and water, whatever you want. Just tell me where the other knights are!''

''I won't.'' Gwaine whispered. He was sweating and trembling, his knees were barely working. He felt like he was going to collapse soon. His arms were getting numb for not receiving enough blood, his shirt was ruined and soaked, his back was surely awful.

_Defend yourself, _he thought, _not with strength. Do something that will take the pain away. _Bam! He was hit again. _Do something, help yourself, save yourself. Think. Think! What will save you?_

''Leon.'' He whispered. He was hit again... and again.

_Focus_, he told himself, _Just think about him._

When Gradel hit again, Gwaine's mind travelled to the past, to the first time he had gone to Camelot. He had saved Arthur's life and was rewarded with medical attention for his wound and the chance to stay for a while. He hadn't noticed Leon back then, why would he give a knight a second glance?

He was hit again, damn, Gradel was getting angry.

The first time he had actually noticed Leon was when he got arrested for attacking the supposedly noble men. Leon had been there, he was the one who had ordered the arrest and took him to the king. In that moment, Gwaine had wanted to see him as another stupid knight who would never listen to a peasant. But there was something about him, he seemed wise and loyal, attractive as well. However, Gwaine had been able to forget about him very soon, he had to leave Camelot anyways.

He arched his back with the next one, that hurt like hell.

Next time he had seen Leon was when Morgana took Camelot. Once again, he was fighting along with Merlin and Arthur. Leon had encountered them days later and became Gwaine´s friend and ally silently. Arthur had made Gwaine a knight that day, making the man's hatred to noble men disappear.

A tear rolled down his cheek, the pain was unbearable.

They had fought together as partners and friends, and won the battle. The throne was Uther's again and Gwaine had found a new home, a family. Leon had become one of his best friends rapidly, they had a lot to talk about and Gwaine had brought out Leon's most mischievous side, they enjoyed joking and making pranks together.

Oh, dear God, when was Gradel going to stop?

A couple of months ago, something totally strange and unexpected had happened. It had been a hot night full of alcohol and they all had decided to stay outside the castle for the night. Everything had been perfect: Merlin and Arthur were in God knows where, Elyan was fast asleep, Percival wouldn't stop singing drunken songs, and Leon... Leon had spent the whole night laughing, Gwaine remembered it clearly. No one ever knew why, it had probably been Percival's horrible voice or Gwaine's jokes, but Leon's smile and laugh had been beautiful.

''Come on, Sir Gwaine, we're both getting tired.'' Gradel laughed.

The day after that, Gwaine had woken up with a dry mouth, a headache and a single thing inside his mind: Leon. For many weeks, Gwaine had been feeling confused about everything, Leon was his friend, why was there a stronger feeling? It wasn't right. Every time the blond talked to Gwaine, his heart would jump inside his chest; every time he touched him, a chill would run down his spine. Eventually, Leon had become Gwaine`s everything. He was in love. And the proof had been the knight's somehow foolish decision to save him instead of the king.

_Keep going,_ he thought_, this is helping, you're getting stronger._

Was he? He was coping with a huge pain, yes. But he had fallen apart with a non-physical pain about a week before. It was true, nothing had hurt Gwaine more than Leon's rejection; Gradel's whip was damaging his body, but his friend's discomfort with the love confession had broken his heart. He would do anything to have that changed, it should have been different. For a long time, Gwaine had dreamt about a confession with a perfect reaction: Leon smiling, kissing him and laughing because the feelings were mutual. The knight had been a fool for thinking that.

_You're running out of thoughts, hurry, he's growing tired._

He was desperate, more thoughts wouldn't arrive. There had to be something that could help him. He screamed again after another hit arrived, how many times had he received a stroke? He had lost count. He was going to end up dead if he did nothing; remembering numbed the pain somehow, but it wouldn't help his friends. He had to be clever and...

That was it! Another memory arrived, a helpful one. It had happened on Gwaine's first month as a knight, Leon must have been observing him because, one day during training, he had approached him and said: ''You're strong, obviously something useful as a knight. But you're also clever, that will help you more than anything.'' That was it, Gwaine could buy more time and make the path easier for his friends.

''Wait!'' He screamed with effort and pain. Gradel had probably not listened to him as he hit him one more time. Gwaine tried again. ''Wait! Stop!''

''Did he just ask me to stop? Good, good, I was getting tired.'' Gradel laughed. ''Are you going to cooperate now, Sir Gwaine?''

''I will... I will.'' Gwaine whispered. It hurt. Everything hurt.

''Release him.'' Gradel ordered. ''He can't run away. Besides, I need to look at him if he is to give me information.''

The guard approached Gwaine and cut the rope holding his hands together. He made the knight turn around so he would face Gradel. When he let him go, Gwaine collapsed, exhausted and full of pain.

Gradel walked towards him and kneeled. ''Well?''

''You're... you're losing your time.'' Gwaine muttered ''It's true, I didn't come here alone.''

''See? Was it too hard to say it?''

''But this was part of the plan.'' The knight continued, his enemy froze. ''They're not out there. All your men were so busy with me that couldn't have noticed a group of knights entering.''

''You mean... you're saying that they're already here?''

''Yes, and ready to rescue the king any time now.''

Gradel went pale, there was pure terror inside his eyes. He looked at the guard and screamed. ''Bring everyone back inside! Search everywhere!''

''Immediately, my lord.'' He answered and walked out of the room. Gwaine was delighted, it had worked perfectly.

''How do I know you're not lying?'' The slave trader asked the knight.

''Please.'' Gwaine whispered, almost crying. ''Don't do it again.''

''Know that, if you're lying, the pain will only get worse.''

''I... I understand.''

''My dear friend.'' Gradel said, putting Gwaine's hair back in place, the other wanted to push him away, but he was too weak. ''You have made the right choice, believe me.''

The knight coughed, he could barely breathe. He hated being the victim, he hated being there, on the floor unable to move at all. He hated Gradel, he was going to pay if something happened to Leon, even if that meant using the little bit of strength he had and dying.

He was laying down on his own blood, probably trembling and bleeding. But he didn't care. Nothing mattered except the opportunity he had given his friends.

''I will come back later, Sir Gwaine, when I'm sure you have told me the truth and the other knights are captured.'' Gradel said, standing up and walking towards the door.

''Please, don't harm them.'' Gwaine muttered, but got ignored. The slave trader walked away, followed by Benny, who closed the door behind them, leaving the knight alone.

_Numb the pain again,_ he thought,_ one last time, it will be over soon._

Was that moment his last one? Either way, it felt as so. He was feeling dizzy and even breathing was getting painful. He closed his eyes and tried to take a deep breath.

_Numb it, Gwaine, it's almost over._

The previous night crossed his mind, he had been so happy. Talking with Leon had been amazing, he had laughed and enjoyed the night as never before. He managed to smile through the pain. Leon had confessed how scared he was, proving Gwaine that he genuinely trusted him and that their friendship was important. God, everything had been so perfect.

And, a couple of hours ago, he had kissed Leon. It should have lasted a thousand years. They should have stayed there kissing until nothing remained but dust. Even if Leon hadn't been able to continue with it, Gwaine enjoyed every single little piece of that tiny second.

He felt in peace, he was calm. He was dying for the man he loved and would have never wanted it to be otherwise.

''Leon.'' He whispered before the whole world went black.

**Review?**

**TheLoner7**


	9. The rescue, part one

Hello, beautiful people from the internet!

I'm so sorry for taking so long again, it's just that school and Christmas time drive me crazy, I barely have time for other stuff. But well, here's the new chapter, we're getting close to the end!

Thank you so much for the follows, favourites and reviews, it means a lot!

Words woithout A/N: 2 456

**9\. The rescue. Part one**

_''__There is not greater glory than to die for love.'' Gabriel García Márquez_

''In about two minutes, they will exchange places.'' Leon whispered ''We could go to the back and kill two of them when they arrive, that would give us around ten minutes to enter. However, I don't know if someone else is watching. I doubt there's a door there, meaning we would have to climb. My wound still hurts and Pers may not be ready for it.''

''We could use a distraction.'' Elyan said.

Leon frowned, that comment bothered him, it reminded him of Gwaine, and about how stupid he had been, he should have never let him go. It was unfair, Gwaine had made himself a human diversion, no one deserved to become that. Leon was angry with himself, for making his friend feel guilty; Gwaine's choice had been his fault somehow. But he was going to fix that, he was rescue Arthur, Merlin and Gwaine no matter what.

He kept observing the guards, he had learnt their routine: two stood on the front of the fortress and other two on the back of it; every ten minutes, they switched places. At the beginning, when Gwaine was captured, there had been a big group outside, waiting for the knights. But most of them had had gone back inside an hour later.

While they were waiting for Percival to awake, Leon had walked around the fortress carefully. Apparently, the only way in was the front door, which was probably more guarded than expected. They knew trying to enter quietly was almost impossible, they would have to use force to and that was going to call everyone's attention.

Percival had woken up around an hour ago, he wasn't dizzy or confused, which was good, meaning he could fight. The three knights were ready to attack, but they didn't have the strength yet, Elyan was the only one without wounds and, still, they were three against God knows how many. There wasn't a strategy either, how were they going to do it? Dawn was near, they had to do it when it was still dark, they had to...

''I think I know how to do it.'' Elyan whispered. Leon's heart jumped inside his chest and his throat went dry. His friend continued ''I think it's the best option for now. You learnt their routine, right? When they have to leave their spots to exchange places, they walk around the fortress, true?''

''True.'' Leon confirmed,

''We know the front must be protected, same for the back... but what about the sides? If we meet them at the sides, we could finish with them before they could scream and without the risk of being seen.''

''That is brilliant, Elyan.'' Leon said, feeling as if half of the weight he felt over his shoulders had been taken away.

''That is a great plan, but we will have to hurry.'' Percival said. ''We will have to enter immediately and, well, who knows how many we will have to fight.''

''We can do this, I bet tomorrow night we will be getting close to Camelot with Arthur, Merlin and Gwaine.'' Elyan said. ''Let's hurry, I'll go to the right side and you two go to the left. We'll see what comes next together.''

Leon swallowed and started walking towards the left side of the fortress with Percival. They hid behind some trees and waited. He held his sword tightly and took a deep breath, his friend did the same. Some minutes later they saw the two guards walking to their opposite side. Percival walked slowly towards them, still hiding, Leon followed. They were getting closer... and closer... the guards were about to reach the middle of their path...

''Now.'' Percival whispered.

Without thinking about it, both knights ran towards the two guards. One was about to scream, but Leon's sword reached him before he could even react. In less than ten seconds, the knights were running towards the front of the fortress to met Elyan and enter.

''What now?'' Percival asked when they met.

''When enter.'' Leon said confidently. He opened the door carefully. There was a guard with his back at them.

''Why are you opening the door? Did something ha...?'' He started, turning around. He gasped when he saw the knights, drew his sword out and screamed. ''They're here! They're here!''

Leon didn't hesitate, he ran to the guard and killed him on the spot. Adrenaline was running through his body, he had a lot of energy even though he hadn't slept at all. He felt no fear, no insecurities. There was only one thing on his mind: rescuing his friends. He could do it, he knew he could, and no one was going to stop him. He had faced death so many times... Jesus, he had even faced a dragon, what could ever possibly stop him?

He observed the place, they were in a large room that was only a small part of the fortress. It was a good and expensive building for something illegal; the walls and floor were made of stone, several torches provided light. The room had two doors on the sides, they would have to choose one to follow, the one that would guide them to their friends.

And their answer arrived, a bunch of guards entered running from the door on the left. Percival, Elyan and Leon fought bravely and with no problem, in less than a minute, all their enemies were laying on the floor. But there were probably still a lot in other places, absolutely aware of the knights' presence.

''Where to now?'' Elyan asked.

''To the left, where they came from. Its' obvious that, if this side is more protected, it's our path; they need to keep Arthur where he is.'' Leon answered.

The knights ran to their left, being guided by the amount of guards on the way. They had to fight with strength and energy as they were in great disadvantage; the territory wasn't theirs and there were so many enemies. But they weren't the only ones in danger, Gradel, the slave trader, could easily use one of their friends as a weapon. That's why they had to be fast and get them as soon as possible.

Their path seemed to get easier with every step. Enemies kept coming, but the knights were better at fighting and more organised. They continued at great speed, confident about the path they were following...

And then the giant appeared.

While running, Leon had entered a room and seen a door half open, he caught a glimpse of that small space: a group of stairs that lead to the dungeons. They were around five meters away from it so they tried to run faster. However, a man appeared from a near room and stood in front of the door with his sword out. The knights would have advanced with no fear, but one hit coming from this man could be deadly. ''Man'' wasn't even the right word to describe him, he was even bigger and taller than Percival; he was a beast, a giant.

''Elyan, close the door behind us.'' Leon said when he heard more enemies coming. They had to deal with this huge one, they had no time for others.

His friend did as he was told and Percival spoke. ''We're trapped with him, what now?''

''I received strict orders from my superiors.'' The big man said with a deep and scary voice. ''I will not allow you to get in.''

''I believe you.'' Leon said. His blood was boiling with rage, he hadn't gone that far to end up being stopped, he was going to rescue everyone. ''But I doubt you'll be useful as a dead man.''

The other grunted like an animal and raised his sword. The knights ran to surround him, trying to make him leave his spot or harm him somehow. Percival attacked first, but the giant's sword stopped him, giving Leon a chance to attack him. He did so, but his enemy seemed barely bothered by it. The pain and rage must have been so little that, instead of stabbing the knight, he pushed him away with his arm. However, he didn't push him as if trying to make him just back away, he pushed him as Leon as if he was a little bug ready to fly... and he did fly. Against a wall.

Leon hit the wall and landed painfully, he felt a jolt of pain on his wound. How could one man's arm make him fly that far away? He had hit his head, so he was dizzy and unable to move correctly. He blinked a few times and noticed that his friends were trying with great effort to fight the giant. It seemed hard, but the man was holding with his hand the spot Leon had wounded.

''You okay, Leon?'' Elyan asked while trying to hit that beast with his sword.

''I am.'' He said standing up and grabbing his sword.

''Try to lock the door with something. I think they're...'' He continued, dodging and avoiding a slash with the deadly sword. ''I think they're trying to get in.''

Leon ran to the door as fast as he could and blocked it with a piece of wood he found on the floor. He was going to return and help his friends, but there was a hard hit on the door and the piece of wood almost broke. Leon threw himself back at it to hold it. For the first time since they had entered, the knight was afraid; they were trapped in a room with a giant and a group of people trying to get in.

He needed to think, the three of them were going to end up dead if they kept doing as they were. His enemies hit the door again, but he was strong and the piece of wood was still whole. However, one more hit and the door would end up falling over Leon. He looked at the giant, he had no intentions of leaving the door he was protecting. Nevertheless, that door wasn't completely shut; they could still get in somehow.

And his opportunity arrived.

Percival slashed his sword and harmed his enemy's arm, which made him grunt and get distracted; his side was making him lose blood and now his arm was making him weaker. Leon knew the rest of the guards would enter the room if he left his spot, but he also knew that the giant would never expect an attack coming from him. Before the enemy could rise his sword again, Leon ran as fast as he could and pushed him; the man tripped, opened the door with his weight and fell down the stairs.

''Quick! Get in and close the door!'' Leon ordered. Just when they entered, their enemies broke the previous door. Elyan shut the door quickly and ran down the stairs, being followed by his two friends; Leon was slower as he was still a bit dizzy. He let out a sigh of relief when he was close to the end and realised he was actually in the dungeons.

There was a guard there, but he didn't even have his sword out. He looked at the unconscious body of the giant with confusion, then at the knights. ''Brutus? What the hell is..?'' He started, but Percival punched him in the face and he blacked out.

''Was that Percival?'' A familiar voice was heard, it came from the inside of a cell. Leon smiled and ran towards the sound, it was indeed Arthur who had spoken. The king and Merlin, who was by his side, opened their eyes with surprise. ''Leon?''

''Hello, Arthur, Merlin! I'm glad you're safe!'' Leon said, smiling and looking at them happily, but feeling scared when he noticed Gwaine was nowhere to be seen. He heard the door being opened: their enemies were getting in.

''I found some keys!'' Percival said and tossed them to Leon, who was closer to the cell. The knight grabbed his sword and ordered. ''Open the door for them. Elyan and I will keep them away.''

Leon caught the keys and nodded. What his hands had grabbed was a big ring with a bunch of keys; that was going to take time and they actually needed some. But he wasn't going to lose more time, he started with the first key. He looked at his friends, they seemed terrible; Merlin was skinnier than usual (if that was even possible), Arthur was probably exhausted, the bags under his eyes confirmed that. They were also dirty and pale, the king was probably desperate to take a bath.

Leon kept trying, but the right key still wasn't found. He had to be quick, Percival and Elyan needed support, and Gwaine... Gwaine. The knight spoke. ''I'm sorry we took so long, sire, I got wounded and...''

''Oh, God, are you better now?'' Arthur asked.

''I am... sorry, we would have come sooner, but I had to recover and Agravaine wouldn't give us permission to leave.''

''What? My uncle didn't let you...?''

''No.'' Leon answered seriously. ''He didn't say why. He told us he would think about it, but never actually confirmed anything.''

''That doesn't make any sense.'' Arthur muttered. ''Agravaine... he...''

''I didn't expect that either, my lord, but I guess you two could talk about it when we're back.'' Leon said, trying with another key... a key that fit. Arthur smiled and Leon started turning it. Then, he looked at the king with desperately worried eyes and asked what he really wanted to know. ''Is Gwaine here?''

''He is.'' Merlin answered with a concerned voice.

''Where?''

''There's a door at the end of the corridor, it probably leads to a room, he's surely there.''

''Is he alone?''' Leon asked, scared. He was almost done with the door and the keys.

''Our enemy was there a couple of hours ago; then he went out. But ten minutes ago he went back in.''

Ten minutes. Leon and his friends had entered ten minutes ago. He opened the door quickly, gave the king and his servant a rapid hug and spoke. ''Grab that fallen guard's sword, help Percival and Elyan, I'm going for Gwaine.''

He was about to run, but Arthur stopped him by grabbing his armour. He looked at him with serious and worried eyes. Leon's heart stopped, no one would have stopped him if it wasn't important. Arthur sighed before speaking. ''Leon, we believe he was tortured and we're not sure if he is a... look, it's just that last time we heard him scream was around an hour ago.''

**Review?**

**TheLoner7**


	10. The rescue, part two

**A/N: **Hello beautiful people from the internet! I'm so so so so incredibly sorry for taking so long, I know I promised I would try and I did, but damn school keeps getting in the way... anyways, we're getting closer to the end and I just wanted to thank you for all the favourites, follows and reviews; I know I always say that, but it's something nice knowing you guys like what I write, thank you!

Words without A/N: 2 422

**10\. The rescue, part two**

_ ''__Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am whole again.'' The Cure_

''What in the actual hell is going on?'' A guard screamed with confusion when Leon appeared in front of him. But he received no answer, as the knight killed him as soon as he arrived.

Leon stared at the corpse and had to take a few deep breaths, he realised how tired he was and that he hadn't rested in ages. He noticed the door in front of him, a door that surely lead to Gwaine. He tried to push it, but it was closed; the checked the guard's corpse and found a key inside his pocket. He grabbed it and opened the door quickly.

His plan was to enter and immediately kill anyone who would stand on his way, but he froze as soon as he entered the room. When he opened the door, he saw a body on the floor; it was lying on its stomach, revealing a back full of blood, Leon couldn't even see wounds, just blood. He couldn't see the face either, but it was that messy brown hair what told him it was Gwaine. _He's dead, _he thought, feeling his heart suddenly stopping.

''Ah, take a look at that, Benny.'' A tall and fat man said, Leon looked at him disgusted and ready to kill; next to him there was a smaller man. ''How many times have these knights bothered us, Benny? And... oh, come on, Sir Gwaine, turn around so you can introduce us to your little friend.''

Those last words gave Leon a little hope and let him breathe again. After that, Gwaine moaned weakly, he was clearly alive... but no one knew for how long he'd remain like that. The blond raised his sword and started walking very slowly towards Gwaine.

''You are under arrest for slavery trading and keeping the king of Camelot under your power.'' The knight tried to sound strong. ''Don't try to fight, it will be better if you give up.''

''Ha! Giving up... tell me, my dear knight, how do you pretend to succeed?'' The criminal asked, taking his sword out.

''We already have.'' Leon answered, standing protectively next to Gwaine. ''King Arthur is now free.''

''Obviously, but my men outside outnumber yours and I'm very certain you haven't encountered Brutus.''

Leon half smiled; he was sure most of the criminal's men were dead and, if Brutus was the giant, he had taken care of that. He spoke again: ''Put your sword down, it's over.''

''Of course it's not over, my dear. No knight of Camelot will live, King Arthur will have a special cell so he will be more comfortable while waiting for Lady Morgana...''

''None of that will happen.'' Leon tried to sound harsh, even though he was losing control, his enemy was walking calmly around the room and headed to the door, about to leave.

''So, tell me...'' The slave trader started, opening the door. ''Where you and your friends already here or did you just enter now?''

''We just entered. And you should stay here, I'm warning you.'' Leon threatened. He wanted to chase him down, but he didn't want to leave Gwaine's side.

''Well, it seems like my dear Sir Gwaine is a liar.'' Gradel laughed, not feeling afraid. He was sure he had everything under his control; little did he know his life and business were over. He smiled. ''Benny, kill them.'' He said before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Leon wondered how a skinny, tiny man would kill two knights. He started turning towards him, but he was pushed and fell down. That was Benny's advantage: he was fast. Leon was about to grab his sword, that had flown away, but he saw the servant walking towards Gwaine with a knife. He got up quickly and ran, he grabbed his enemy and held him against a wall.

Benny couldn't move; Leon's intentions were to keep him there until he gave up. He was succeeding, his confidence came back, his tiny enemy was getting uncomfortable. But Gwaine moaned, the other knight didn't expect that, so he turned his head around. Benny took the chance to free the hand that was holding the knife and stabbed Leon's arm.

That was a surprise for the knight, which completely distracted him, allowing his fast enemy to let himself free. On that occasion, he didn't go for the weakest in the room, he looked at Leon with rage and held his knife tightly. He had every intention to attack the knight, but Leon held both of his wrists to stop him; he also tried to hit Benny's stomach with his knee, but the other had thought of that before and was faster, leaving the other with no air. The knight fell down and heard his enemy laugh.

''My master makes it look like as if I was a tiny and useless man. But I'm more than that. You two will just be a part of the many knights of Camelot I've killed.'' Benny said, grabbing Leon's sword quickly, and stood in front of the blond.

The knight looked at him, not scared to die, scared because Gwaine's life was in danger. But he was paralysed, he didn't know what to do... and it all happened in a couple of heartbeats.

He stopped looking at Benny and directed his eyes to who was on the floor: Gwaine. His eyes were wide open, he was looking directly at Leon, with fear. The blond looked into those beautiful deep eyes that seemed dark brown one moment, and hazel the other. He saw so much love and faith there that he felt courage flooding his body. In less than a second, he was up with his sword back and Benny's body was on the floor, still and expressionless.

''Oh God, Gwaine.'' Leon got to mutter. He dropped his sword again when making sure Benny was dead, and ran towards Gwaine, who looked more like a corpse than the servant. The knight kneeled and held the other one's head with his hands, barely feeling the pain on his arm. Gwaine was covered in blood, his cheek was swollen, he was cold and obviously in pain... still, he managed to smile. ''Gwaine, thanks God you're alive.''

''Leon...'' He whispered in the weakest voice.

''It's me, Gwaine, you're safe now.'' Leon said, he felt tears forming inside his eyes. He caressed the other man's face softly and repeated. ''You're safe now.''

''Are Merlin and Arthur...?''

''They're safe, you don't need to worry. I'm here.''

''How did you find me?'' Gwaine asked, breathing with difficulty.

''I will always find you, Gwaine, always.'' Leon said, allowing the tears roll down his cheeks, he was finally with his love. ''How could I leave you behind?''

Gwaine smiled and made a huge effort to raise his hand and put one of Leon's curls back in place. Then, he directed it to his shoulder and whispered. ''Your arm.''

Leon smiled. Gwaine was worried about his arm while his own body had countless wounds and was covered in blood.

''Leon, it's cold in here.'' Gwaine said, alarming the other.

''Shh, it's not. I'm going to take what's left of your shirt off, alright? And I'm giving you mine. Then, we're leaving this place.'' Leon said quickly; Arthur was safe, but they were still in danger. As carefully as he could, he took Gwaine's shirt off, it was easy because it had hardened with the dried blood and was ripped on the back.

''I lied to you.'' Gwaine when Leon started taking his own shirt off.

''What are you saying?'' Leon asked.

''You asked me if I knew what losing sleep meant...'' He coughed and looked at the other with loving eyes. ''Truth is, I do. I started losing sleep when I realised I was absolutely in love with you.''

Leon smiled and kissed Gwaine on the forehead. ''We're leaving this place and you're not leaving my side again, ever.'' He whispered and helped the other inside the shirt. Then, he put his armour back on, the metal was cold against his skin. ''Can you walk?''

''I think so.'' Gwaine said.

The blond helped him out. They stood up together and Leon made Gwaine put his arm around his shoulders, just like in the night Gwaine had gotten drunk. He was also holding his sword tightly, enemies might still appear. He began walking, but Gwaine collapsed as soon as he tried to take a step.

''I'm just slowing you down.'' Gwaine said, trying to stand up again. ''Go without me. Hurry, I'll try to hold them here.''

''Don't be an idiot, Gwaine.'' Leon said, alarmed. ''We don't know how many are still alive. And I'm not leaving you.''

''I'll try to follow you, just go and...''

''I already let you leave my side once and see what happened! I'm not making the same mistake twice!'' Leon screamed. He looked down and took a deep breath, then he stared at Gwaine and spoke more calmly. ''You can't ask me to leave you behind. You almost died because of me, I'm not letting you do that again; I would never forgive myself.''

''Leon, I...''

''Don't, Gwaine, just come so we can get out.'' The blond whispered. The other didn't complain, he got up and allowed himself to be helped. When Leon made sure they could walk alright, he spoke softly. ''Let's just get the hell out of here.''

Walking was hard and painful for both of them. Leon had his wound that was just days old and a newly added one on his shoulder. Gwaine was weak and completely useless because of all the wounds. Climbing up the stairs was probably the hardest part; but they still had a corridor, another set of stairs, and more than half of the fortress in front of them.

They got nervous when they were leaving the dungeons and noticed that their friends were still fighting. The clash of swords and bodies falling could be heard. Leon held his sword up and made Gwaine get closer, he might have to protect him. Some rooms were clear, it seemed like the fight was happening near the door, their only way out.

They reached the first hall they had been in. A bunch of guards were blocking the door while another group was fighting the knights, the king and his servant. Three advanced towards Leon and Gwaine as soon as they appeared. The blond had to use all his strength to fight them off and protect the other.

Silence fell when Arthur killed the most important person in the fortress: Gradel. Everyone stood still for a few moments; then, every enemy of Camelot advanced with rage towards the others. Even the ones protecting the doors advanced, they didn't care if they got out or not, they just wanted to kill. Obviously, most of them tried to attack Arthur, but that didn't mean Gwaine and Leon weren't targets anymore.

''Watch out!'' Gwaine screamed, stepping aside so Leon could fight better. He fell down because of the weakness. When he saw that it had made the other one feel uneasy, he tried to calm him down. ''Keep going, Leon, I'm fine''

The other nodded and continued. He felt confident again, he was fighting with grace and the amount of enemies was getting smaller. He had Gwaine protected as well... but that didn't last much. Leon took a quick glance at the other, he saw him trying to stand up helping himself with a wall, he wasn't really in danger. Some guards ran to them, but he fought with great strength and didn't let anyone get close to Gwaine. However, some did see how strong he was, so they tried surrounding him.

The knight did his best, he managed to handle most of them. But the last one was a tough guy, he didn't even let Leon recover from killing one, he just threw himself at him and became crazy with his sword. Leon was trying his hardest, but he was weak, tired, worried and in pain. The strong man made Leon trip and fall down, sending his sword away. He put the tip of his in the knight's throat and raised it to give him a deadly stab.

But someone ran to him and pushed him to the floor, saving Leon's life. That someone was Gwaine, who had managed to stand up and somehow run to the guard, falling down with his arms around him. That hurt like hell, but Gwaine wasn't going to let him get Leon. However, the guard was stronger, he stood up easily and decided to kick Gwaine on the stomach to keep him still. The kick made the knight lose air and stay on the floor.

The guard smiled with satisfaction; but Leon, who had stood up and grabbed his sword, stabbed him before he could turn around. As the dead body of the guard collapsed, Leon kneeled to see Gwaine, who was unconscious but alive. He tried to lift him, but he was so weak and slow that they were probably going to get killed. When he had advanced a few steps and lost all hopes of getting out of that place, Arthur appeared and helped him with Gwaine.

''The others are taking care of the rest, let's get him out of here.'' The king said. Leon nodded and kept on walking. In a matter of seconds, they were out of the fortress, they would reach the horses soon.

In five minutes, everyone was far away from the fortress and were getting ready to leave. Percival put Gwaine in front of Leon when he had climbed up his horse. Leon held the unconscious Gwaine as the other had done with him days ago during the first mission.

''Come on, Gwaine. Stay with me, idiot.'' Leon whispered to Gwaine's ear as they rode to Camelot. Leon could call Gwaine an idiot in three different ways. One appeared when he was really acting like one and the blond had to snap at him. The second one was a little more careless, he wouldn't think about it twice; it would happen when Gwaine made a joke or a stupid comment. The last one had appeared a while ago, Leon would call him an idiot with utter adoration and loving eyes.

If they didn't hurry, his idiot was probably not going to make it.

**TheLoner7**


	11. And I would die for you

**A/N: **Hello beautiful people from the internet! Well, this is the last chapter, I'm a bit emotional to be honest. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you, thank you for all the follows, favourites and reviews; it's always nice knowing that people actually like what you write and support you somehow. Writing this has been an amazing experience, it made me realise how much I missed writing fanfics, I'll probably get back to it even more.

Seriously, guys, thank you. As always, please tell me what you think and maybe what you'd like to read in the future (if you like my stuff, of course).

Finally, I want to dedicate this fic to my friend Elen, who knew about this story before anyone else but will never get a chance to finish with it. Thank you for your support, my little dragon, I miss you everyday. I love you.

Words without A/N: 2 262

**11\. And I would die for you...**

_''__My heart, it beats, beats only for you. My heart is yours.'' Anonymous_

''Gwaine!'' Leon screamed desperately. He kept running, the place was like an endless maze.

''Leon... help...'' Gwaine's voice was heard everywhere.

The blond tried to follow the sound. He had to be fast. He knew someone was hurting Gwaine. He knew it was happening. He had to run ''Gwaine!'' He screamed again. No answer arrived. He waited. Silence kept ruling the place. The knight tried again. And again. Darkness started swallowing him...

Leon woke up sweating and finding it hard to breathe. He closed his eyes. _You're fine, _he thought, _calm down, this is Camelot, you're safe, it's fine. _He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He was lying on his own bed, it was around midday judging on how bright the sun was. His heartbeat slowed down a bit, and he tried to remember what had happened last night.

He and his friends had arrived late at night, tired, weak and wounded. Some knights had gone to encounter them, but that wasn't important to Leon at that time. He had also ignored Agravaine when he ran to his _dear nephew and knights. _Leon had hurried to find Gaius. As soon as he found the old physician, Gaius sent his to Gwaine's room while he prepared his equipment and potions.

After taking Gwaine to his room and carefully placing him on his bed, Gaius and the others arrived, everyone carrying things to help. The physician had taken almost two hours to heal Gwaine. Right after being done, he healed everyone else's wounds and told them to get some rest. Leon had refused to leave Gwaine's side, so Gaius gave him a ''potion for the pain''... then, everything was black.

He sighed and tried to take a deep breath. _You're fine, _he told himself_, it was just a nightmare, you're fine, Gwaine's..._

Leon realised that the physician had never said anything about Gwaine getting better, the knight could be dead for all he knew. He got up and dressed as quickly as his wounds allowed him to. He left his room and was about to run to Gwaine's room, but Gaius was near and saw him.

''Leon, you can't run like that!'' The old physician snapped at him.

''Gaius... Gwaine...'' Leon said, not being able to say more.

''He's alive... very, very wounded but alive.'' Gaius answered, calming his tone. ''Last night, I thought he was not going to make it, but he's fine now.''

''Why wouldn't you...?''

''Leave you spend the night with him? Are you insane?''

''But, Gaius...''

''But nothing. You weren't just hurt, you were in shock. You need to understand, Leon, your wound on the side had reopened and the one on your arm was very deep; you needed to rest. Besides, you're not the first one who has asked me something like that. You should have seen Gwaine when you were the hurt one, he was furious.''

''You mean, Gwaine wanted to see me when I...?'' Leon started, surprised.

''Yes, idiot.'' Gaius smiled and continued calmer. ''And he wanted to see you this morning as well; he woke up, in pain but fine, I had to tell him a hundred times that you were okay. You, knights, and your impulsive love that won't let me do my job.''

''I'm sorry, Gaius.'' Leon said, feeling better: Gwaine was safe. ''Is it possible for me to see him now?''

''I'm not really sure about that, Leon, the medicine I gave him will probably keep him asleep for another two hours. Merlin will go to change his bandages in one and a half, maybe you can go them.''

''Thank you, Gaius.''

''Oh, don't mention it... I'll see how Percival and Elyan are. Why don't you go and talk to Arthur? He wanted to know everything about your mission.''

Leon thanked Gaius and, even though he really wanted to see Gwaine, he went to the king's chambers. He noticed how easy it was for him to walk and breathe, all that weight over his shoulders was finally gone. During the last few days, he had felt overwhelmed y the responsibility and mixed feelings. But that day was just getting better and better: he was finally at home, he had succeeded, and Gwaine was safe and sound.

When he reached the king's premises, he knocked and entered. He saw Arthur having what seemed like a serious conversation with Agravaine.

''Sir Leon.'' The king's uncle said when he saw him.

''My Lord.'' The knight answered dryly.

''Um, I was here talking to...''

''It's fine, uncle.'' Arthur interrupted. ''I actually wanted to talk with one of the knights.

''Oh, of course, Sire, I'll just...''

''Leave, thank you.'' The king finished for him.

''Agravaine nodded and made his way out, pushing the knight with his shoulder before leaving. Leon made a huge effort not to insult the man for basically hitting him on his wounded arm.

''Come and sit, Leon.'' Arthur said, smiling. It seemed like his bad mood and seriousness had left with Agravaine.

''My Lord.'' Leon smiled back and sat across the king.

''How are the wounds? Gaius said they were nasty.''

''Better, thank you, being back makes everything seem well... Gaius said that you wanted to talk to me or another knight.''

''Indeed.'' Arthur looked at him, serious and concerned somehow. ''Leon, I was being harsh on my uncle for a reason; he says I'm just scared and alert because of the spy in Camelot, but I need to be careful. I need you to tell me everything that happened since Merlin and I got captured. Every detail counts.''

Leon took more than an hour to tell the king everything that had happened, of course, avoiding his most personal parts with Gwaine. When he was done, Arthur just nodded and stayed quiet for a while.

''I want to ask you something as a friend, Leon, so please give me an honest answer: do you think Agravaine is the spy?'' Arthur asked.

''I'm not entirely sure, sire.'' Leon answered. ''He seemed very offended and uneasy when Gwaine accused him of wanting your throne, and it's suspicious how he never gave us permission to get you and Merlin... but it's also hard to believe, I mean, you're family.''

''That's what bothers me the most. I don't want to believe that my uncle is the spy, but everything he does just... Thank you, Leon. I am honestly so grateful; Merlin and I would probably be dead if it hadn't been for you and the others.''

''Of course, Arthur.'' Leon smiled. ''We were just doing our job.''

Arthur lowered his head respectfully and smiled. ''Gwaine must be waking up soon, you can go if you want.''

''Thank you, my lord.'' Leon stood up and started walking towards the door.

''Oh, and, Leon?''

''Yes?'' The knight said, turning around.

''If you see Merlin, could you please tell him to come?... And... look, whatever you have with Gwaine, don't hide it... You're not the only ones here.'' Arthur winked and went back to see some papers as if nothing had happened.

Leon smiled while leaving, he was feeling extremely satisfied. Everything that had seemed wrong for the last days was mending slowly. He was a bit nervous though, Gwaine was alive but not exactly at his best. The knight got shivers down his spine by just trying to imagine what the other had gone through.

He took a deep breath when reaching Gwaine's room, he opened the door slowly. Gwaine was lying on a table, over his stomach, sleeping. Merlin was there too, he was apparently working on changing the bandages.

''Hello, Leon.'' The servant said. ''Come in, he'll wake up in some minutes.''

Leon entered shyly. ''Do you need some help, Merlin?''

''Not really, but if you want to change his bandages, you're more than welcome to help.''

''Good.'' The knight said, getting closer. ''What do I have to do?''

''You take last night's bandages and put them here.'' Merlin pointed a bowl, two more, one with a strange liquid, were next to it. ''Then you clean the wounds with this and then cover them again with the new bandages. Easy?''

''Easy.'' Leon answered nervously.

''I'll leave you two alone for a while, he'll be happy to see you when waking up. I'll be with Arthur if you need me.''

''Thank you, Merlin. Go with your Arthur.''

Merlin giggled and left. The knight felt weird when saying _your Arthur,_ he wondered if he could call Gwaine _his Gwaine_. He got close to the asleep man and started taking the bandages away carefully. He felt a wave of guilt hitting him when he got a clear view of Gwaine's back, it was full of wounds.

''Bloody... God, I'm so sorry.'' Leon said, allowing tears to roll down his cheeks. He cleaned the wounds as delicately as possible, like Merlin had explained, and then covered them with the new bandages. Every time his hands touched a wound, he whispered how sorry he was, it hurt him as if Gradel had tortured him instead.

He felt so guilty, Gwaine had suffered so much just to keep Leon and the others in safety. The blond held the brunet's hand and kissed it a couple of times. ''I'm sorry.'' He whispered to it. ''I've always treated you like an idiot and just done small things for you. I'm so sorry, Gwaine.''

He felt Gwaine's hand holding his tighter. Without opening his eyes, the knight pulled Leon's hand to his own mouth and kissed it. ''I love you.'' He whispered.

''Gwaine...'' Leon kneeled to see the other one better, his eyes filled with tears when he saw him. ''Are you...?''

''I'm fine, I can hardly feel the pain.'' Gwaine answered, his voice more sleepy than in pain. ''You?''

''I... I'm fine, just...'' It became hard for Leon to talk. ''Oh, God, Gwaine, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault, if I hadn't...''

''It's not your fault, I chose to do it, I chose you.''

''But I should have gone, I was supposed to be the leader.''

''Do you realise we all would be dead if you had gone, because of me?'' Gwaine smiled. ''Let's see. Would you die for someone you love?''

''Of course I would.''

''Then there is nothing to forgive. That is exactly what I was willing to do, it is not your fault.'' Gwaine said lovingly. ''It's fine, Leon, I've had worse.''

''But I will never be able to forgive myself... you were going to die for me in that hell without hesitation and I've always...''

''Just hush now.''

''Don't hush me, idiot, I'm being serious.'' Leon complained. He couldn't help it but to smile when Gwaine laughed at his frustration.

''I'm your idiot now, Sir Leon.'' The other said and looked at the other with loving eyes. ''What is it?'' He asked when Leon's smiled faded.

''You can't understand... That was my big mistake, Gwaine, remember? My big mistake, my greatest fear. We could have succeeded differently. I should have never let you go there alone. When you ran and it suddenly became silent, I realised how stupid I had been, I...'' He had to stop to wipe some tears away and clear his throat ''I realised how much I actually need you. That was my biggest mistake and I don't see how you could forgive me.''

Gwaine held Leon's hand tighter, he moved his body a bit so he could make it touch his heart. ''Can you feel it?'' He asked. ''It beats for you. You were safe and I wouldn't have wanted it otherwise. I don't forgive you because there is nothing to forgive. I wouldn't mind giving my life for you.''

Leon kissed Gwaine's forehead and smiled. ''I would die for you a million times, no matter how painful or often it'd be. I would give my life every single day, I would fight an infinite war with countless enemies. I don't care what happens next, whatever I'll have to do in the future, I'll do it for you. I love you, Gwaine.''

''I love you, Leon.'' Gwaine whispered, smiling.

Leon used his free hand to move some hair out of Gwaine's face and touched it with love. Then, very delicately, he turned Gwaine's head a bit and kissed him. That kiss was simply perfect. Breaking it was hard and almost painful.

The two knights smiled and held each other. They stayed there for what seemed years, kissing and whispering _I love you_'s. Hours later, their friends went to visit; they talked, laughed and celebrated their victory. Gwaine and Leon didn't let go off each other's hand for a second.

When night arrived, Leon convinced Gaius to let him stay and sleep with Gwaine. Finally getting to enjoy a bed was perfect, being together just made it better. For Gwaine, there wasn't a better pillow that Leon's chest, neither did a nicer sound that the blond's heartbeat. And for Leon, who was usually cold at night, nothing made him feel warmer than Gwaine's body next to him; and there wasn't a better thing to do than to caress that messy brown hair before falling asleep.

It was a beautiful sight, it's always heart-warming thing seeing two soul mates, two best friends, being finally together; both entirely taken by each other. That was just the first night of the many others, nights that would belong to these two souls that would die for each other.

**TheLoner7**


End file.
